The Steelers’ critics are forgetting about Pat Freiermuth in the wake of the George Pickens trade, one chief rival believes. Ravens LB Kyle Van Noy appeared on NFL Live on ESPN on Thursday, discussing the trade and other topics. In his comments, he pushed back on the idea that the team doesn’t have a plan.
“My counter to that would be Pat Freiermuth. I don’t think he gets enough credit, I do think he’s very, very valuable in the middle of the offense”, Van Noy said about the idea that the Steelers don’t have any weapons other than DK Metcalf after trading George Pickens.
Freiermuth had arguably his best season last year with seven touchdowns and 653 yards on 65 catches. The amazing stat is that the Steelers only targeted him 78 times, resulting in an 83.3-percent catch rate. There is still some untapped potential. Without Pickens and with perhaps Aaron Rodgers, maybe the Steelers finally exploit their commodity sitting at tight end.
And Kyle Van Noy made sure not to forget the Steelers’ running game, even after a reminder of how poorly they ran against his Ravens in the playoffs. In fact, he is intrigued by what they can do after the latest changes, beyond Freiermuth’s role.
“Jaylen Warren, he’s a top running back. It’ll be nice to see him get a full workload”, he said, in the Steelers’ run game. “As well as seeing Kaleb Johnson, that new rookie running back from Iowa. I thought he was one of the best running backs in the draft. It’ll be interesting to see how those guys do”.
Pat Freiermuth will, of course, also factor into the Steelers’ run game. While he isn’t a premier blocking tight end, he can block when properly motivated. Last year, he credited Arthur Smith for helping him lock into that aspect of his game. One hopes that he can take yet another step in that direction this season to aid their ground efforts.
Pittsburgh hasn’t left one area of its offensive roster untouched this offseason, with some major shakeups. They completely turned over their quarterback room, yet again, with major moves at wide receiver and running back too. Even along the offensive line, they parted with two starters. The Steelers did the least amount of damage to Pat Freiermuth’s room, moving on from MyCole Pruitt.
As for Freiermuth, he has 220 receptions for 2,190 yards and 18 touchdowns in four seasons. After a down year due to injury in 2023, he bounced back strong last season, equipped with a contract extension. The Steelers see him as a cornerstone for years to come. In many offenses, a tight end features among their top targets.
The way the Steelers’ offense is currently formulated, Pat Freiermuth obviously needs to be one of their top targets. Ravens LB Kyle Van Noy believes they are well-off doing just that as complement to DK Metcalf. If they can find contributions from the backs and Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin III, they can be in business.
