The Steelers had a great rookie season from their tight end, and all signs point to him taking his game to the next level in 2022.
Tight ends have one of the tougher learning curves in the NFL. Typically, a rookie tight end will have a mediocre first year before taking off in their second season. That seemed to be what the Steelers expected, as they drafted Pat Freiermuth but still had Eric Ebron on the roster to play over him. It became apparent early in the season though that Freiermuth was in rare company as the rookie was dynamic when he was on the field.
What are his expectations with the Steelers?
I did a relatively deep dive into how rookie tight ends taken in the first and second rounds of the draft have fared from year one to two and how that stacks up for Freiermuth. As well, I looked at some of the more notable tight ends of the past 15 years and compared their first and second seasons to what Freiermuth may end up doing. To say the least, fans should be excited about the steps he may take going forward.
Important to highlight before this breakdown is that we don’t have athletic numbers on Freiermuth as an injury prevented him from working out during the pre-draft process. That means I’ve focused less on the tight ends athletic makeup as opposed to their pure production.
While Freiermuth isn’t the athlete that a Noah Fant is or a Jimmy Graham was, their stats will still be compared. Without further ado, here is Freiermuth’s rookie season breakdown and why fans should be excited about his 2022 season.