PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s become a source of pride for rookies to say they are able to make it through a full season, avoiding the ‘rookie wall’. That point in time where many rookies fall off as having never played that many games in a career.
On Tuesday, Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth said he had issues around Thanksgiving.
“After week 10 or 11, I got a little complacent for a couple of weeks,” Freiermuth said. “I think the Browns game and the Ravens game, I started picking it back up. I got to make sure I stay consistent throughout the whole year.”
The numbers would back it up, in week 11 Freiermuth had 11 receiving yards and didn’t have a game with more than 4 catches or 40 yards until the Browns game. Freiermuth finished the final two games of the regular season with 11 catches for 77 yards.
He explained he had just had enough. He really went from the Summer of 2020 and the on-again/off-again/on-again last year in college that went straight into NFL Draft preparation and continued into rookie mini-camp.
“I was in football for 18 months or something like that,” Freiermuth said. “Didn’t have a break, it got to a point where it was a lot.”
The Penn Stater said he talked to Ben Roethlisberger and veteran tight end Eric Ebron about it. He also leaned on one of his new, best friends Zach Gentry. He believes they compliment each other well going forward. Probably leaning on Gentry for advice in helping with his physicality.
“I need to improve in my blocking,” Freiermuth said. “I’m a pretty good blocker out in space. I just need to continue to have coaches have trust in me and have confidence in me to move D-ends in the run game and be that point-of-attack blocker. When I go on the field and they think ‘oh, he’s just going to run a route’.”
He also knows he needs to diversify his route tree. That is a big goal this offseason.
“With the year I had this year, teams are going to watch the short, intermediate routes with me-those flat balls, curls,” Freiermuth said. “I have to get more comfortable and get asked to run downfield more and run those deeper routes. This offseason will be big for me being able to showcase I can do that.”
The rookie from Penn State finished with 60 catches (3rd on the team) on 79 targets for 497 yards (3rd on the team) and seven touchdowns (2nd on the team).
“I think overall I had a great rookie season and met some of my goals,” Freiermuth said. “Got to continue to work for my next step in year two.”
Next QB
Freiermuth only gets one year with Ben Roethlisberger, now he will have to learn someone new. He worked often with Mason Rudolph this season, especially on Ben’s off-days on Wednesday and the Lions game, and likes what he can do.
“There is some trust in him within the offense,” Freiermuth said. “He did a good job in the Lions game, sometimes we didn't put him in the right situation as playmakers to make him look as good as he could have. He's a great quarterback."
He also complimented the job Dwayne Haskins, calling him a good quarterback who worked hard.
Freiermuth notes he has work to do, also worth pointing out he had 21 more catches along with more yards and touchdowns than Heath Miller did his rookie season.