Pat Freiermuth has been a minor part of the Steelers’ offense so far, and Gerry Dulac struggles to make sense of it all. So far on the season, he has only logged 112 snaps, a career-low 50 percent of the total. Through four games, he has drawn a whopping 10 targets, catching seven for 65 yards. A year after scoring seven touchdowns, he has yet to find the end zone.
Freiermuth’s snap count plummeted during the Steelers’ last outing, largely due to the game plan. For whatever reason, the coaches identified a heavy package as the best way to combat the Vikings. That meant much more of Darnell Washington and OL Spencer Anderson, and much less of Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith.
“The disappearance of [Pat] Freiermuth is puzzling”, Dulac said on 102.5 WDVE yesterday. “We saw it even last year, to a degree, and now even more so. This is a guy they signed to a decent contract to be, if nothing else, maybe their No. 2 receiver. And now he’s barely even getting enough playing time. That’s just puzzling to me, and I think they have to find a way to get him more involved in this offense. Because he’s as reliable a receiver as you’re going to get”.
The Steelers signed Pat Freiermuth to a four-year, $12.1 million extension in 2024. The 2025 season marks the first season of that extension, officially, and needless to say, he’s off to a slow start. There have been many calls to get him more involved, but time will tell whether that happens.
Given what the Steelers are paying him, one would imagine they have a level of respect for his game. And yet he ranks sixth on the team in targets in the passing game, behind WRs DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin III, RBs Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, and TE Jonnu Smith.
Just four games into the season, it’s far too early to draw any conclusions about anything regarding personnel usage. The Steelers have varied looks fairly robustly thus far, and it feels as though any skill player could make an impact in any given week. There will be a time, presumably, that Pat Freiermuth is a focal point in a game plan. Until that happens, though, the questions will understandably remain. And fans will question why the Steelers signed him to the contract extension they did in the first place.
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