Steelers caught the NFL napping when they selected Freiermuth

Double Tight End Threat

With all of the Steelers’ wide receivers, and their newly drafted running back, Pittsburgh still has a tight end, Eric Ebron. Ok, here comes another group of moans.  Ebron, dropped all of those passes last year, he’s not great! Ok, Ebron is no Heath Miller, he’s no Travis Kelce either. Yes, he did drop some passes in 2020, but then who didn’t. Ebron finished with a 61.5% catch ratio. Not great, but not shabby. What most don’t realize when Ebron caught the ball, most of his catches made a difference in the game. Of 56 receptions, 53.57% were for first downs. That’s over half of his receptions that extended drives.  Add in five touchdowns that’s 61 receptions. So, in the end, 67.03% of all of Ebron’s receptions resulted in a first down or a touchdown. He made the best of most of his receptions.

In Heath Miller’s entire career, 66.55% of his receptions were either first downs or touchdowns. So Ebron, by those standards, had a decent first season with the Steelers. Getting technical for Ebron’s career, 69.3% of all of his receptions were for first downs or touchdowns. So in that sense, he still exceeds Miller.

Now add Pat Freiermuth. It’s hard to gauge how he will perform at this stage. But the kid has talent, or Pittsburgh would not have selected him. Nonetheless, he brings a lot to the Steelers, and it’s a salivating experience waiting to see how he performs when Pittsburgh takes the field. Even more, it’s one additional receiver opposing teams have to cover. If the Steelers run a double-tight end set, then the opposition has to be wary of both.

Plus, adding Najee Harris to the equation complicates the equation more if they run a screen. If they pump fake to Harris and a linebacker takes the bait, it opens up either Freiermuth or Ebron. If not, then one of the receivers gets open.  Opposing teams never thought out the consequences of allowing Pittsburgh to draft Freiermuth. Now they are left to figure out how to stop the Steelers offense in 2021.

It’s not often the Steelers get a chance to punk the rest of the NFL. With teams so fixated on the retirement of Pouncey and the loss of Alejandro Villanueva, no one expected Pittsburgh could steal the second-highest-rated tight end right out from underneath their noses. The Steelers did just that.