After missing out on Brandon Aiyuk following his Thursday evening extension to remain with the San Francisco 49ers, the Pittsburgh Steelers are left in a bit of a predicament. They seem to be missing one piece of the puzzle toward having a complete and competitive offense. Van Jefferson is the No. 2 wide receiver in name, but there is a strong chance that TE Pat Freiermuth finishes the season with the second-most receptions and yards. He is going to need to effectively be the WR2.
“To address receiver, it’s gonna be a combination of Pat Freiermuth and Van Jefferson,” said Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo via 93.7 The Fan’s Joe Starkey Show on Friday morning. “I think we all know George Pickens is gonna lead this team in targets, in receptions, in yards. And then the number two is up for grabs. It could be Pat Freiermuth getting number two receiver-type targets and catches. And then Van Jefferson, I think, could be a quality number three target. And after that, you piece it together.”
The remaining options are Calvin Austin III, Scotty Miller, and rookie Roman Wilson. All three are undersized receivers who work primarily out of the slot. Miller is the most “proven” commodity, but his best season came in 2020 with 33 receptions for 510 yards and three touchdowns. His recent seasons suggest he is more of a role player.
Austin and Wilson are more interesting. There were high hopes for Austin when he was drafted. His rookie season was taken from him by a foot injury, and the 2023 version of the Steelers could barely support two receivers, let alone get a third or fourth option involved. He didn’t have that flashy of a training camp or preseason, but I don’t think we have fully seen what Austin is capable of yet.
And the jury is obviously still out on Wilson, who was the Steelers’ third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Before his ankle injury on the first day of padded practice, he was really starting to take off with excellent production at practice. He caught all seven of his targets for 97 yards and a touchdown prior to injury. He could potentially start practicing on Monday, but he said it is still up in the air as of Wednesday. Regardless, he might need a few weeks to get back into the swing of things before being worked into the offensive game plan.
That leaves a tremendous amount of pressure on Pat Freiermuth, who is awaiting a contract extension, to be the No. 2 receiver.
“So they’re going into a season I would say, barring a move — and really what move could they make now? — but I think they’re going into the season with a below-average receiver unit, and I think they’re pinning their hopes that Pat Freiermuth will have a breakout year,” Fittipaldo said. “We’ll see if he can make that happen.”
For a couple years now, it has felt like Freiermuth is criminally underutilized in the Steelers’ offense. Part of that had to do with the offense struggling to use the middle of the field. Whether you blame it on Kenny Pickett or Matt Canada, they avoided the middle of the field like the plague. But another part has been due to Freiermuth’s availability.
He only played 41.8 percent of the Steelers’ offensive snaps last season and his career-high in that metric is just 64.1 percent. He is going to need to stay on the field way more than that to produce like a No. 2 receiver.
As a rookie in 2021 working with QB Ben Roethlisberger, Freiermuth had his career-high touchdown total of seven. He had only four in the last two seasons combined. And his career-high in receptions and yards was in 2022 with 63 receptions for 732 yards. If he can manage to up those figures to around 80 receptions for 900 yards, then the Steelers have a viable second option.
For now, banking on Freiermuth as the No. 2 is more of a projection than a sure thing. Playing in Arthur Smith’s tight end-friendly offense will help.
I do have high hopes for his 2024 season, but hopes are a scary thing to rely on when Freiermuth is really the only viable No. 2 receiver option on the roster.
