The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-1, thanks to a mostly complete offensive effort in their win against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. For the first time this season, the offense looked consistent from start to finish. The Steelers finally ran the ball well, while Aaron Rodgers was able to move the ball through the air with ease. However, not everyone got a ton of action. Especially not their starting tight end, Pat Freiermuth.
It’s been a quiet start to the season for him, and he didn’t take any steps forward in Ireland on Sunday. In fact, Freiermuth may have actually taken a step back. He wasn’t really included in the offense’s plans, and that causes Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo to question his role in the offense going forward.
“I understand they went to big personnel with Spencer Anderson and Darnell Washington to get the run game going,” Fittipaldo wrote in his weekly chat with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It was very effective, which only leads to the question: Will Freiermuth get squeezed out of snaps every week? If that’s the only way to run the ball effectively then that’s a problem. I’m sure Freiermuth will be utilized more both as a blocker and a receiver, but there are some very real questions about his usage going forward after the success they had on the ground against the Vikings.”
Pat Freiermuth didn’t see much action at all on Sunday, but that’s not a new trend for him. Through the first four weeks of the season, he’s only been on the field for 112 snaps, just 50 percent of the total offensive snaps on the year.
In that limited role, his numbers have taken a hit. He’s only been targeted 10 times through the first four games. He’s caught seven of them for just 65 yards and has yet to find the end zone. Obviously, that’s not the type of production the Steelers would like to see from a player they just handed a contract extension to last offseason.
However, the lack of production isn’t on him alone. Really, the entire tight end room has struggled to make an impact. Jonnu Smith was expected to play a large role after being acquired this offseason. However, aside from a few catches, he hasn’t done much. Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward haven’t been terribly noticeable, either.
At the end of the day, the Steelers are still 3-1. Things could be going a lot worse, and they’ve managed that record without much help from the tight end position. Yet, they still would like, and really need, more help from Pat Freiermuth. We’ll see if his role in the offense increases going forward. But based on the success the offense had without him on the field, that certainly could be up in the air.
