The Steelers caught the NFL off guard in April when they snagged Pat Freiermuth with their second-round draft selection in the NFL draft.
Freiermuth was highly touted and considered by many as perhaps the second-highest-rated tight end next to Kyle Pitts in the 2021 draft. Numerous mock drafts had him off the board in the first round. In some ways, it was a surprise no one took a chance on him in the first round.
Then again, everyone thought the Steelers would draft an offensive lineman with their second pick, so obviously, most teams probably assumed he would be a third-round steal. No one expected Franco Harris to announce that the Steelers had selected Pat Freiermuth at the podium, and it shocked many people.
Upon Heath Miller’s retirement, the Steelers did have a gap in their tight end position, and in part, that’s why the Steelers made the decision to sign Eric Ebron in 2020. He would pick up some of the slack, especially with Vance Mcdonald’s retirement. With Freiermuth’s selection, obviously, Eric Ebron’s career with the Steelers became more of a short-term solution. Now granted, it’s hard to say how many thought Freiermuth would make an immediate impact and might work behind Ebron a bit before stepping into the limelight.
Well, Freiermuth answered that question quite quickly and decisively, at least if the first three weeks are any indicator. And he is clearly headed to claim the position of the Steelers’ number one tight end if he has not done so already.
Ebron’s drop off
Not everyone was impressed by Eric Ebron when the Steelers signed him and did not think him to be a great tight end by any means. Even when the season 2020perhps one of his chief complaints was he dropped too many passes. Perhaps he only had 56 receptions out of 91 targets; however, that is still a 61.5 percentage. Not horrible by any means.
Even then, Ebron had 10 yards per reception, meaning 30 of his 56 receptions were for a first down. So over half of his receptions netted the Steelers extended their drives by at least four downs. So despite only having five touchdowns, he certainly helped extend the Steelers’ overall time of possession.
Even Ebron’s 558 yards surpassed Heath Miller’s total single-season reception yardage in six out of his ten seasons. Plus, his five touchdowns were more than Miller caught in six of his seasons as well. So there is no denying he played a key role in the Steelers’ offense in 2020.
In 2021, Ebron’s stat production has dropped off the chart. So far, Ebron has one catch for 19.0 yards while targeted seven times, giving him a 14.3 %; if this continues, he’s on pace to only have 5.66 receptions for the season for perhaps 95 yards.
Sure, you can blame in part his low output to the quality of Pittsburgh’s performance. However, let’s look at Pat Freiermuth’s numbers.
Ok, In some ways, you need to be careful here and take these numbers with a grain of salt. They only come from three games. So it’s hard to say how the year-end numbers will stack up. However, in any event, this is where Pat Freiermuth is after just three games.
So far, Pat has eight receptions for 82 yards. On the surface, that might not look like much but let’s look deeper into the numbers. With that, he’s on track for 464.66 yards and to snag 45.33 receptions over the season. Now, let’s add to that his targets. Roethlisberger targeted him ten times with eight receptions giving Pat an 80% completion ratio. Figuring he gets targeted 56.66 times, he only fails to catch 11 or so passes. This ratio will be an extraordinary number if it holds through the season.
In addition to his eight receptions, six have been a first down given the Steelers’ failure to move the ball on many possessions this season that have been valuable production. Consider two additional factors.
First, fans have not seen Pat’s break-out game, which is still looming, the one where he has 60-100 yards receiving and or 2-3 touchdown receptions. Like Chase Claypool’s performance in 2020. Also, it’s hard to see him stay at this level, but it will be interesting to see his stats at the end of the season
Compared to Kyle Pitts
Now, let’s compare Pat to his contemporary Kyle Pitts, whom many analysts compared to Travis Kelce; looking closely at those two kinds of helps gauge whether the rest of the NFL missed the boat on not drafting Freiermuth earlier.
His statistics show that while exceeding Pat in some categories, Pitts may fall behind Freiermuth in others.
For Pitts’ first three games, he has 11 receptions for 139. That’s only three more than Pat at the moment; however, he has 57 more yards. Which honestly, two good games for Freiermuth could erase that deficit quickly.
Expanding on that, though, whereas Freiermuth is on pace to have 56.66 targets, Pitts is on pace for 96.33, and based on receptions per game, Pitts is on track for 62.33 receptions to Pat’s 45.33 still it’s only a difference of 17 receptions at the moment so still relatively close. For now, the most significant difference for Pitts is he’s on the path to 787.66 total yards. The season is still young, though.
Pat exceeds Pitts in two areas significantly receptions for first downs where only 54.54% of Pitts’ receptions have gone to a first down compared to Pat’s 75%. For the Time being, Pitts only has a 64.7 reception rate to Pat’s 80%. It will be fascinating to see how that plays out for the remainder of the season.
How good is Steelers Freiermuth
It’s still too preliminary to say Freiermuth is as good as he’s looking at the moment; however, he’s holding his own Kyle Pitts, and based on the stats and the number of games yet to play, could still easily surpass all of Pitts stats with a few good games.
Yes, one can counter that the Falcons or Matt Ryan are a shell of their former selves, and Pitt could have done better on another team. Perhaps it’s a valid critique. Nonetheless, that’s not the case, so you have to compare them based on their teams.
Certainly, it’s way too early to start making comparisons between Freiermuth and Heath Miller either, but the critical point is Pat is shaping up to be one of the top five tight ends in the NFL. He is not there yet, though. We will have to wait to see how he finishes out the season, but if his level of play stays consistent, there could be a number that might regret taking Pat when they had the opportunity. All while helping the Steelers as they try to climb out of their 1-2 hole.
One thing seems inevitable; if anything else, Freiermuth is on his way up. If things continue, Eric Ebron could be on his way out the door as well if things continue as they have, especially with Freirmuth replacing Ebron as the starter in a span of one game.
We will hear the Steelers crowd chant Muuuuuuuuth every time he catches the ball for some time to come.