Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: TE Pat Freiermuth
Experience: 4 Years
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted TE Pat Freiermuth in the second round four years ago. Ahead of the 2024 season, they bet on the future, extending him on a four-year, $48.4 million deal. And he responded with arguably his best season, yet there remains more meat on the bone. There had better be because his best season still left us wanting.
And to be clear, that’s not all, or even mostly, on Freiermuth. Despite playing all 17 games, the Steelers only targeted him 78 times. Barring his injury-plagued 2023 season, that is the fewest targets he has seen in his career, yet he made them count.
In fact, Pat Freiermuth was extremely efficient, catching 83.3 percent of his passes, easily a personal best. He finished the season with 65 catches for 653 yards, matching a career-high with seven touchdown catches. Taken as a whole, his numbers are commendable, but the Steelers can still do more with him.
They actually did use him more than ever, too. In 2024, Freiermuth played a career-high 776 snaps, or 69 percent of the Steelers’ offensive total. Both numbers mark the highest of his career, slightly edging the 2022 season. Yet they also used Darnell Washington more this year, particularly as a blocker.
On that front, Freiermuth remains underwhelming, but he put in more consistent effort than last season. They didn’t pay him to block, though, even if they expect him to when told. The Steelers extended him because of his threat as a pass catcher.
That begs the question, of course, about why they didn’t use him more in that role. Especially in a season in which the Steelers did not have a deep receiving corps, why did Pat Freiermuth only see 4.6 targets per game? He recorded a successful play on by far a career-high 62.8 percent of his receptions, so it’s not like he wasn’t producing when given the opportunity.
Of course, he also ended the season on a low note. In the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Ravens, Freiermuth caught just three passes for 15 yards on four targets. The latter stat is crucial because the target he didn’t catch was the game-sealing drop. His other receptions saw him repeatedly come up short of the first down on third down. Not that they were the most well-designed plays in the NFL. But he is making good money to make something happen.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
