Pat Freiermuth has been no stranger to the end zone throughout his football career. From being an end zone magnet at Penn State to now again with the Steelers, the rookie tight end is legitimizing himself as a weekly fantasy football TE1.
Following his two-touchdown performance on Monday Night Football against the Bears, Freiermuth has now caught 27 balls for 245 yards and four scores. He’s also seen over six targets in each of the last three weeks and has caught at least four passes. His role is growing every week.
Over the past four weeks, Freiermuth is the TE4 overall in half PPR scoring behind only Mike Gesicki, Travis Kelce, and CJ Uzomah. He also leads rookie tight ends (including Kyle Pitts) with four touchdown receptions and only trails Pitts by seven receptions for the rookie tight end lead. He also only lingers behind Ja’Marr Chase for the most receiving touchdowns by a rookie.
But, is it really that surprising? No, it isn’t.
Over his freshman and sophomore seasons at Penn State, Freiermuth scored 15 touchdowns in 25 games. He also had 19 receptions for 199 yards and 13 touchdowns without a single drop in the red zone over his three years at Happy Valley.
While some tight ends, such as Uzomah or Dawson Knox, could be considered touchdown-dependent or fluky based on their stats outside of the red zone, that is not the case for the rookie. Freiermuth’s red zone success (all four touchdowns from inside the 10-yard line) shouldn’t be considered a fluke.
By the way, only Hunter Henry has more red zone touchdown receptions by a tight end with five.
“I don’t think that any of us are surprised by what he did,” Mike Tomlin said. “Those that watch us day-to-day, those that watch him day-to-day, he’s a good combat-catch guy. He delivers in those moments, and it’s just good to watch him develop and write his story in that way.”
Freiermuth was able to develop chemistry with Roethlisberger while Eric Ebron was on the shelf since Week 6. Meaning, when Ebron returns, Freiermuth should still be able to put up TE1 fantasy numbers.
Surprisingly, The Wolf is lower on Friermuth than the experts, ranking him TE16 (-4 vs ECR) on his Rest of Season Fantasy Rankings. He also checks in at TE11 on The Wolf’s Week 10 Fantasy Rankings.
