Steelers Now
A former tight end of the Pittsburgh Steelers was not a fan of the team’s selection of Pat Freiermuth.
Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth has been a very reliable player for the team since it selected him in the second round pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. However, former Steelers tight end Eric Ebron believes there was a better player on the board at the time.
“This is what blew me,” Ebron said on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward. “Instead of getting [Creed] Humphrey, we get Freiermuth, as if we needed a tight end. We needed to protect this old mother f**ker, and I don’t have a problem with him being the quarterback, but then make the right decisions to protect his a**. You feel what I’m saying? We don’t need more weapons. He could barely get it to the ones we had. We needed to protect him. I felt like if we could have protected him, he’s still Ben Roethlisberger, then we get that extra second or two, create a little space, get open.”
Humphrey certainly turned out to be a great player as a two-time first-team All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s also safe to say Freiermuth hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations, recording 261 catches for 2,676 yards and 22 touchdowns over the past five years.
In 2025, Freiermuth posted the second fewest catches (41) and receiving yards (486) in his career.
However, that was likely a product of the Steelers crowded tight end room. Darnell Washington emerged in 2025 with 31 catches for 364 yards and one touchdown and Jonnu Smith stole another 38 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
Washington is returning after signing a big-time contract extension this offseason, but the same can’t be said for Smith. That is why some believe the best is still to come from Freiermuth.
“Pat’s one stand-out ability was the ability to make a contested catch. He’s not the fastest guy, but he can get open, and making contested catches is really a good quality of his,” former Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said. “This will be his first season on coach [Mike] McCarthy’s offense. … He’s a very good NFL tight end. Have we seen the best of him? Probably not. New offense, we’ll see what happens.”
Only time will tell if Freiermuth can do enough to change Ebron’s mind at this point, but time is starting to tick on Freiermuth becoming a consistent impact player for the Steelers offense.
A native of Merrimac, Massachusetts, Freiermuth played college football at Penn State, where he recorded 92 receptions for 1,185 yards and 16 touchdowns from 2018-20.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Ex-Steelers TE Criticizes Team’s Decision to Draft Pat Freiermuth
