The Steelers offense has finally seen some improvements this season, and the unit as a whole is a lot more active than we have seen in years past. With new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith at the helm, this team has found success through the air and on the ground, and as he has usually done, this team has employed a lot of heavier sets with multiple tight ends.
To fit that mold, the team decided to give Pat Friermuth a new deal this offseason. It came in slightly below market value, as he is scheduled to make 12.1 million dollars a season. With so many questions in the receiver room, the expectation was for Freirmuth to serve as the defacto second receiving option.
The results haven’t always been there this year. Freirmuth has had numerous games with under 20 receiving yards and is on pace for his second-worst professional season despite being on pace for a career-high in snaps played. On top of this, fellow tight end Darnell Washington has found some success, and fans have naturally gravitated toward him as a target.
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With all of this being considered, are the Steelers regretting their decision to sign Freiermuth? He got a substantial pay bump last offseason but hasn’t been performing up to par statistically. With Washington taking on a bigger role, what was the point of this new deal? Even with those issues at hand, I’m not quite ready to jump off the Freiermuth train.
Steelers have a lot of flexibility with this contract
As of this writing, Freiermuth has the ninth-highest average per year for a tight end. Considering the number of players still on rookie deals, that seems fair to me. Despite his lower statistical impact this year, I still think the deal itself was slightly below market value.
You also have to take into account that this offense, while better off than a year ago, is still behind in terms of passing. Add in Russell Wilson’s usual usage of tight ends and the stats make sense. Outside of a select few years with Jimmy Graham, Wilson has rarely looked toward tight ends during his career.
It is still disappointing that he hasn’t had any huge games though, and long term it could impact the Steelers willingness to keep him around. While no one could have predicted that Washington would look as good as he has, he still isn’t a complete player. That said if he continues to improve and even surpass Freiermuth, you can always extend him and cut Freiermuth.
The details in the contract actually make it so that you could release Freiermuth next year with a small bit of cap savings. While I don’t foresee that happening, it means that he is essentially playing year to year assuming the contract isn’t restructured. If you get to the point where you can’t afford him and Washington, assuming you want to get Washington on a new deal, you can cut him with ease.
While Freiermuth I having a down year, some of the reasoning behind that has been out of his control. Despite the emergence of Washington, I still think the Steelers are happy with his new deal. At worst, he provides you with some short-term stability. The stats may not be there right now, but he is still playing well and is still on a fair market deal.