Not that the endorsement was needed with Mike Tomlin seemingly entrenched as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach, but TE Pat Freiermuth provided one anyway, fully backing his head coach to remain in that position amidst media chatter and speculation over his future.
Speaking to reporters during locker room cleanout day, Freiermuth didn’t hold back his support of Tomlin.
“Without Coach T, we wouldn’t have been able to be in the playoffs and we all love Coach T,” ESPN’s Brooke Pryor shared on Twitter/X Monday afternoon. “He’s a great leader, great coach.”
Freiermuth was drafted by Tomlin in 2021 and received a contract extension from the team days before the 2024 regular season kicked off keeping him in Pittsburgh through the 2028 season. Healthy all season, he responded with a campaign similar to his rookie year. He caught 65 passes for 653-yards and seven touchdowns, leading the team in receptions and scores while finishing second in yards. Freiermuth is the first tight end since Heath Miller in 2012 to lead Pittsburgh in catches.
Still, his season produced quiet stretches and few dominant performances. He only eclipsed 50 yards in six games and 70 just once, an 85-yard showing in the regular-season finale. Normally sure-handed, he made more mistakes and had more drops than usual, fumbling in Week 17 against the Kansas City Chiefs and dropping a fourth-down pass against the Bengals that prevented the chance for Pittsburgh to get into range and kick a game-winning field goal. Per Pro Football Reference, his four drops tie a season high while his 5.1-percent drop rate is the worst mark of his four-year career.
Part of the team’s five-game losing streak, Freiermuth spread that blame beyond Tomlin.
“It’s not just on the coaches, right?” he said, via Pryor. “The coaches can put us in situations and there’s gonna be some games where we’re running the plays that we’re running against other teams that schematically are great plays to run against them, but for whatever reason we’re not executing it.”
Like the rest of his draft class, Freiermuth is still searching for playoff success. He’s now 0-3 in the postseason after falling in the Wild Card round in 2021, 2023, and 2024. Three losses that were not particularly close. That’s the reason why the media and fan temperature is hot around Tomlin right now, but Freiermuth figures to get his wish and have Tomlin return as his coach for 2025.
