The Pittsburgh Steelers are on their bye week, and with a little extra time on my hands I was sitting at my desk thinking about the offensive production we’ve seen this season. By most metrics, the team is headed in the right direction, but there was one player who stuck out as under-achieving, at least on paper.

That would be none other than Pat Freiermuth.

The player who signed a new contract extension right before the start of the regular season has always had lofty expectations heaped on his shoulders, but has he always lived up to those expectations? Most would say no, but at the same time you can’t always blame Freiermuth for a lack of production.

Here are his career statistics to this point:

Looking at those numbers I can’t help be see sporadic aspects of his statistics. His rookie season, with Ben Roethlisberger still at the helm of the offense, he tallied 7 touchdowns, just one off Heath Miller’s career best of 8 touchdowns. His yardage that season wasn’t tremendous, but the touchdowns made up for it. Freiermuth’s sophomore season saw him top 700 yards receiving, but only hit pay dirt twice. Needless to say, hopes were high for Freiermuth heading into 2023.

Well, we know what happened that season with Matt Canada calling plays, an injury plagued season, and a fluctuating quarterback situation equated in arguably his worst season as a professional. Tallying just over 300 yards and 2 touchdowns left fans wondering if Freiermuth would ever “break out”. To add to the confusion, through half of the 2024 season Freiermuth has almost surpassed his statistics from 2023, a season where he played 12 games.

Maybe the issue with Freiermuth isn’t his ability, the play caller, or even the quarterback, but maybe it’s our expectations of what he can bring to the Steelers? In other words, are expectations too high for him to be a Top 10 Tight End (TE) in the league?

Some thought he could be a Travis Kelce-type player for the Steelers. A player who can flex out to be more of a receiving threat, but also can be in-line as a blocker to help pave the way and protect the quarterback. If I’m being honest, Freiermuth isn’t either of those things at this stage of his career. He is currently 16th among tight ends in the NFL in terms of yards receiving, and the drafting of Darnell Washington has allowed the Steelers to use Washington in those in-line blocking moments.

When looking at the snap share through 8 games, Freiermuth is playing 74% of the offensive snaps, the same percentage of George Pickens, and second only to the quarterbacks, as it pertains to the skill position players. So it isn’t as if Arthur Smith isn’t using his tight ends, he absolutely is a tight end-heavy coordinator.

So, what’s stopping the Steelers offense from seeing a Freiermuth explosion as a receiver?

Is it his ability to create separation?

Is it the quarterbacks’ not wanting to/or seeing the middle of the field?

Freiermuth’s separation data, if you believe in that kind of thing, isn’t eye-popping, but his quarterbacks aren’t necessarily looking his way either. This definitely comes into play when talking about Freiermuth’s red-zone targets. Through 8 games, the Steelers have only targeted him 4 times in the red-zone, an astonishingly low number for a player who has proven his is a valuable commodity when the field shortens.

I could dive deeper into the analytics regarding tight end data, but the more I dig the more I find myself wondering if the Steelers just have to figure out how to utilize Freiermuth on a consistent basis. Before some head to the comment section and tell me I’m crazy, know I’m not disappointed with Freiermuth’s 2024 season. In fact, he has been a viable weapon for the offense, but I can’t help but wonder if there is more there when it comes to production?

Could Freiermuth be a Top 10 tight end in the league? My brain tells me he absolutely could be one of those players, but the more I look at the analytics all I see is a middle-of-the-road tight end.

What needs to be done to unlock Freiermuth’s untapped potential? With Russell Wilson at the helm you have to think the Steelers feel more comfortable working up plans which highlight Freiermuth in variety of ways. Dialing up tight end screens, working him in motion to get favorable matchups and look his way in the red-zone all could make a huge difference in his production.

Maybe Freiermuth is just a middle-of-the-road tight end, but I can’t help but feel there is more there than what we’ve seen, and the Steelers contract they gave him before the season states they feel the same way I do. The challenge is now finding ways to get him the football.