5 Steelers players having their most disappointing season in 2023

3. Pat Freiermuth, Tight End

I became a pretty big Pat Freiermuth fan after watching him work the middle of the football field in his first two seasons with the team. After a lengthy drought without a real threat at tight end since the end of Heath Miller's career, it finally seemed like the Steelers found their tight end of the future they have been waiting for.

Unfortunately, Freiermuth is having his worst season in 2023 -- some of this has to do with circumstances beyond his control. The third-year tight end simply can't avoid the injury bug. This year, he landed on IR and was out for a six-week span with a lingering hamstring ailment. In the past, concussions have been an issue.

Freiermuth did have a career game against the Bengals in Eddie Faulkner's first game as the team's offensive coordinator, but his impressive performance came to a screeching halt the very next week.

Now Freiermuth is on pace for both the least productive and least efficient season of his NFL career. This comes on the eve of 2024 contract talks. The former second-round pick has also been awful as a blocker this year and lackadaisical at times as a route runner.