5 young Steelers that have had the best training camp so far

Steelers Pat Freiermuth

Expectations have been mixed for Pat Freiermuth as he enters his rookie season. While many are high on his overall ability to be a complete tight end, he needs to develop his overall game to be a more dynamic threat. As well, he barely played last season for Penn State due to a nagging injury. That doesn’t bode well for a strong rookie season at a position that has a documented history of being tough to transfer to.

Freiermuth has shown up constantly though so far in camp. Again, drills haven’t gotten too specific yet and the preseason hasn’t been played, but Freiermuth is having as good of a start to camp as you could hope. Specifically, as a receiver, Freiermuth has displayed tough hands and a gritty resolve to come down with some difficult passes. The blocking hasn’t been highlighted as much, but ideally, a full camp of practice there can get him in the position to be an average to above-average blocker in year one.

Eric Ebron will likely still start the season as the starter, but Freiermuth could force more of a rotation than previously expected. If he can shore up his blocking as well, he could even see packages when he is the only tight end on the field. I don’t want to overlook historically how hard the tight-end transition is from college to the pros, but Freiermuth seems to be doing at least slightly better than most. He won’t be elite year one, but he could play well enough to see more snaps than initially anticipated.