Pat Freiermuth is off to a great start in his sophomore season in the NFL. Here’s why the Steelers tight end is establishing himself as one of the best in the game.
It’s easy to get discouraged when comparing the Pittsburgh Steelers roster to the roster of top teams around the NFL. While teams like the Cowboys, Eagles, and Bills seem to have talent to spare across the board, Mike Tomlin’s team doesn’t offer a lot of young players to look forward to in the future.
Fortunately, there are a couple of players who have a chance to be among the best in the league at their position. Pat Freiermuth is one of them. Freiermuth doesn’t necessarily have any standout physical traits. In terms of both size and athleticism, he’s only above average — not elite. However, this just doesn’t seem to matter when he steps on the field.
In only his second NFL season, the Steelers tight end is on the verge of becoming one of the best in the game. At 6’5” and 251 pounds, Freiermuth is a remarkably smooth mover with soft, natural hands to effortlessly pluck the ball out of the air. After making the catch, he possesses outstanding physicality with the ball in his hands and he isn’t easy to bring down as he’s almost always able to chug forward for additional yardage.
Thanks to this, Freiermuth has been able to average an impressive 11.0 yards per reception this year, according to ESPN stats. This comes despite some shotty quarterback play early in the season and a Matt Canada game plan that rarely designs routes to go over the middle of the field.
Pat Freiermuth in 2022:
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) November 22, 2022
🔸75+ yards in 4 of 8 full games played
🔸11.0 yards per reception
🔸8th-ranked TE via PFF (6th among TEs with 200+ snaps)
🔸6th-best receiving grade
He's done this with shaky QB play, a poor offensive game plan, and despite being injured in Weeks 5-6.
It’s also worth noting that Freiermuth missed roughly a game-and-a-half of action due to a concussion he suffered in Week 5. Even considering this, Freiermuth is still on pace to have slightly more receptions and yards than any season in Heath Miller’s 11-year career.
How high can the Steelers TE climb?
I’m not about to dub him as the greatest tight end in Pittsburgh Steelers history. There’s much more that goes into that than just numbers and that is way too premature. However, just a year-and-a-half into his NFL career, it’s clear to see that he’s becoming one of the best in the business.
But just how high can this young man climb among the NFL tight end rankings? In my opinion, Travis Kelce is in a league of his own, while George Kittle is still an imposing player when healthy. Likewise, Mark Andrews has been one of the most productive tight ends in the NFL for several years now.
While he may never have the most impressive numbers, even Pro Football Focus would agree that he’s one of the best in the business. Currently, he is grading out better than players like George Kittle, Kyle Pitts, and T.J. Hockenson. Obviously, this is just one sliver of the pie in all that must be considered, but it’s worth noting.
Assuming he stays healthy for the rest of the year, I really do think that Pat Freiermuth could be considered in that second tier of tight ends just behind Kelce, Kittle, and Andrews with players like Dallas Goedert and Hockenson. In fact, he may already be there. By next year, I think many could view him as a top-five tight end in the NFL.
Freiermuth is simply a natural football player by every sense of the definition, and he’s a guy the Steelers hope can hang around for a decade. On a team that doesn’t have many young studs to look forward to, we can take comfort in the fact that Pat Freiermuth could be a beast in the middle of Pittsburgh’s offense for years to come.