3 Steelers players who must step up their game vs Lions this week

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth

Pat Freiermuth appeared to be on somewhat of a snap count during his first preseason action against the Eagles after being banged up with a shoulder injury for the past few weeks. While we would have liked to see an explosive first performance from Pittsburgh’s second-round pick this year, the big tight end reeled in just 1 reception for 6 yards.

To be fair, this was Freiermuth’s only target of the game, according to the ESPN boxscore. However, we would have liked to see him garner a few more looks against second and third-team defenses.

As a blocker, Freiermuth struggled a bit and missed a few assignments. By the end of the night, only Okorafor graded out worse on Pittsburgh’s offense as the rookie tight end also earned a grade under 45 overall.

We certainly don’t need to be worried about Freiermuth after a few dozen snaps. He has been spectacular at training camp this year and catches everything thrown his way. However, I’d like to see improvement from him as a blocker this week against the Lions.

These three offensive players could have huge implications on the upcoming season for the Steelers and will be counted on to do their jobs. Let’s hope they can show more signs of life on Saturday night.