Steelers best and worst-case scenarios for Pat Freiermuth’s rookie season

The Steelers apparently have their guy at tight end, but there are a multitude of ways that his rookie season could ultimately play out.

The Steelers on paper got great value when they selected Pat Freiermuth in the second round of the NFL Draft. The second-best tight end in the class, Freiermuth has the build and talent of a complete tight end, something the team hasn’t truly had since Heath Miller. He needs some work on his blocking and his overall athleticism isn’t elite, but Freiermuth has the makings of a future starter in this league. That said, his rookie season has a range of positive and negative outcomes that could occur. Here are the best-case and worst-case scenarios for Freiermuth’s rookie season.

How a best/worst-case scenario works

While this is all projection and speculation, this tries to take as realistic of an approach as possible. Obviously, the best-case scenario for Freiermuth is that he looks like a young Travis Kelce and has a season that rivals those stats. Likewise, the worst-case scenario is that he looks completely lost on the field, slow, can’t catch a ball, or is injured for the entire year. Sure, both of those cases are possible, but they aren’t entirely likely.

Instead, the focus will be on what the Steelers can realistically expect from Freiermuth in his first year. Taken into account will be the possibilities of injury as well as the fact that tight end is one of the more difficult positions to transition to from the college level. With all of that said, here are the best-case and worst-case scenarios for Freiermuth’s rookie season.