It certainly feels like the Pittsburgh Steelers have failed to utilize TE Pat Freiermuth consistently since he entered the league. He did have a career-high seven touchdowns as a rookie. He followed that up with 732 yards in his second season while averaging 11.6 yards per catch. But he still feels like a mismatch waiting to break out.
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith could change all that. Before Smith was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons or even the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, he was a tight ends coach. It’s in Smith’s coaching blood to utilize the position in the passing game. So will Freiermuth see a career year under his new offensive coordinator?
“It’s another weapon offensively,” Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of the Pat McAfee Show. “I looked at in the spring that, even when I was a tight end coach, [what] we had done with Delanie Walker skill set-wise. Every player’s different, but it allows you to be creative. And you have that historical background, or you watch other players around the league, and you think it fits a skill set. And you push them, and Pat’s a weapon in this offense.”
Smith joined the Tennessee coaching staff in 2011 as a defensive quality control coach. He flipped to the offensive side of the ball the following year and became the assistant tight ends coach in 2013, the year Walker arrived in Tennessee. Walker made three straight Pro Bowls from 2015-2017. In his seven seasons with the Titans, Walker caught 576 passes for 4,423 yards and 28 touchdowns.
Walker was a big part of the Titans’ offense while Smith served as his positional coach. Smith got to see him up close every day. So if he says he sees similarities between Freiermuth’s skill set and Walker’s, that carries weight.
To top that off, Smith loves to utilize the tight end position wherever he’s coached. If Smith sees shades of Walker (who had three straight seasons of 100-plus targets during those Pro Bowl years) in Freiermuth, 2024 could really be a career year for the Penn State product. And Freiermuth is certainly looking forward to playing under Smith and doing some different things than he did in his first three seasons.
