Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth has not lit the NFL world on fire through his first three seasons but he certainly has played well. Despite not being a great blocker, Freiermuth has been a reliable pass-catching tight end for an array of quarterbacks in his three years.
Most would probably consider Freiermuth a good to above-average tight end, so Dakota Randall of Pro Football Network ranking him the 23rd best tight end in the NFL is shocking.
“Freiermuth is an old-school TE, who is a strong route runner from an in-line position but is athletic enough to cause problems when split out into the slot and out wide,” wrote Randall. “His 6’5″, 260-pound frame hasn’t made him a devastating blocker, but he’s improving and still has a lot of time to go before becoming a finished product.”
What makes Freiermuth ranking’s so low, behind the likes of Las Vegas Raiders rookie Brock Bowers, Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, and Tyler Conklin to name a few, may have been his injury-plagued and largely ineffective season last year.
Freiermuth dealt with injuries last season and only hauled in 32 catches for 308 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games. It didn’t help that last year’s quarterback play was bad but overall Freiermuth was largely invisible. In fact, most of Freiermuth’s 308 yards came in one game against the Cincinnati Bengals where he caught nine passes for 120 yards.
Last year was Freiermuth’s worst season and I bet this year will be better as he should be healthier, quarterback play should be better than last season, and his role in the offense as a pass catcher could grow without WR Diontae Johnson and with Arthur Smith at offensive coordinator.
Is Freiermuth a top-10 tight end? Probably not, but you can certainly make the argument he is a top-15 tight end when healthy. I don’t think some of the players listed in front of him are better than him and Freiermuth’s down year last year is not indicative of who he is as a player. Looking at last season in context for him, it makes sense why he didn’t have insane numbers. It is unfair to him to base his ranking as a tight end in the NFL on last year when there is enough of a body of work to say last year most likely isn’t the best Freiermuth, especially when we all saw how good he can be against the Bengals and throughout his first two seasons.
