While toying with big personnel, the Steelers can’t forget about TEs Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith, Mark Kaboly says. Last game, they deployed 300-pounder Darnell Washington and called Spencer Anderson into service as an extra offensive lineman. HC Mike Tomlin and OC Arthur Smith both hinted at continued usage of that package this week. But you’re paying two tight ends eight-figure salaries, and not without reason.
Tomlin “made it known that this is the personnel he likes with four down linemen. You can’t really have smaller guys in there as a 250-pounder like Freiermuth and be successful”, Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan this week. “And that goes for this week and next week as well. That’s fine. If you want to go heavy, you want to go Washington, you want to go Spencer Anderson as the jumbo tackle, that’s fine.
“But then you have to somehow find a plan to get Freiermuth and/or Jonnu Smith involved in the game plan. You should have it wide open right here as the WR 2-ish right now to be able to find some more options for them. You just can’t have Freiermuth or Smith taking 18 snaps a game”.
Pat Freiermuth, a former second-round draft pick, has multiple seven-touchdown seasons on the back of his trading card. In the past, he has shown that he can catch with both volume and consistency. Jonnu Smith, a trade acquisition over the summer, went to the Pro Bowl in 2024 after an 88-catch, 884-yard, 8-touchdown season.
Yet neither Freiermuth nor Smith have done a great deal this year—especially Freiermuth. The latter has 14 receptions on 16 targets but has worked in very shallow depths. For his 14 receptions, he has musted all of 71 yards. He scored a touchdown in the season opener on what was a glorified handoff with the slightest of forward pitches.
Freiermuth’s production is no better, seeing just 10 targets and catching seven for 65 yards. Both of them played extremely sparingly in the Steelers’ win over the Vikings, Spencer Anderson logging more snaps than either.
It doesn’t help that we are having this discussion after an early-season game and a bye week. Since late September, we have been debating what the Steelers are doing, and will do, with Pat Freiermuth. He appears to have fewer concerns about his usage than does the public does.
For what it’s worth, OC Arthur Smith reiterated his faith in Freiermuth and Smith as meaningful contributors to his offense. Their role might not look the same on a weekly basis—clearly so—but they will be assets in time.
