The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 33-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night left the fanbase with plenty to criticize over the next 10 days. The bulk of those issues are centered on the defense, and none of them include tight end Pat Freiermuth.
Freiermuth had his biggest performance of the season by a wide margin, catching five passes for 111 yards and two scores. His biggest play, the 68-yard score that gave Pittsburgh a late lead, may have undone the Steelers’ efforts in the end, but in the moment, it was clear that Freiermuth isn’t going to slide into irrelevancy without a fight.
With the NFL trade deadline quickly approaching on November 4, Freiermuth’s name had surfaced as a possible target for teams in the tight end market to consider. Freiermuth’s performance on Thursday may have solidified that Pittsburgh needs to not only keep him around but feed him the ball more.
Steelers' offensive formula put Pat Freiermuth back in the spotlight and out of the trade discourse
Pittsburgh’s offense practically lived in 13 personnel Thursday with some combination of Darnell Washington, Jonnu Smith, and Freiermuth on the field for most plays. When Freiermuth was in, he often split out and worked as a slot receiver option. Freiermuth has always been a more complete receiver than a big in-line blocker, so splitting him out didn’t create many issues.
After all, the run game looked its strongest running behind Washington and company in heavy sets.
Regardless, it’s no secret that without Calvin Austin III in the lineup, Pittsburgh doesn’t really have a No. 2 wide receiver. Roman Wilson got a few extra looks Thursday night, but Freiermuth filled the role in the grand scheme of things.
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With the trade noise swirling, substantiated by Freiermuth's expendability from his limited usage, a hot performance couldn’t have come at a better time for the fifth-year tight end. Freiermuth came into the week with just eight catches for 76 yards, all while his targets and snap counts continued to dwindle week after week. Before Thursday, Freiermuth had played in just 47% of the offensive plays this season.
Certainly, that wasn’t the expectation coming into the 2025 campaign. But Washington’s year-three leap has been bigger than expected, and Smith’s target share has been fairly on par with expectations, which hasn’t left much room for Freiermuth to flourish. But Pittsburgh spent all summer praising this tight end core, so making sure each gets used in ways that they can prove most effective should be the goal each week.
It took a bit longer than Steelers fans would have liked, but the Steelers shouldn’t have to struggle to get Freiermuth involved any longer if they can carry what worked against Cincinnati into the rest of the season. At any rate, at least Steelers fans can feel a bit more confident that a fan favorite isn’t destined to be traded away within the next few weeks.