Freiermuth making quick strides for Steelers

If there were any doubts about who would be the biggest factor in replacing JuJu Smith-Schuster's pass targets in the Steelers offense moving forward, they have been answered resoundingly the past two games.

Rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth has quickly become the No. 3 option in the Steelers' passing game with Smith-Schuster sidelined for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.

And there's no reason to think that's going to change moving forward as the Steelers (4-3) seem to have found a nice mix in their passing game heading into Monday night's game at Heinz Field against the Bears (3-5).

Part of the reason for Freiermuth's improvement in usage is because Smith-Schuster is out. But game script has also played a factor.

"A little bit of both. I think a lot of it was what they gave us," Ben Roethlisberger said of the usage of the tight ends, including Freiermuth in last Sunday's 15-10 win over the Browns. "They were really focused on taking away the guys on the outside, and that opened some things up in the middle, third-down things. Obviously, Pat’s touchdown was just a great play. I think it’s kind of a combination of things."

Whatever the combination happens to be, it's been notable.

Freiermuth had 11 receptions on 13 targets in the Steelers' first five games. In the past two, Freiermuth has drawn 14 targets, catching 11 for 102 yards and a touchdown. His 14 targets are actually second only to Diontae Johnson (26) over that span, two more than Chase Claypool and four more than Najee Harris.

He's also seen an uptick in his snap count. Prior to Smith-Schuster's injury, Freiermuth hadn't played more than 33 offensive snaps in a game, splitting time nearly 50-50 with Eric Ebron. But in the past two games, he's seen his usage spike to 45 and then 58 snaps. Ebron missed the game against the Browns with a hamstring injury, but had been out-snapped 45-34 in the Steelers' Week 6 win over the Seahawks, showing the growing trend.

Another trend also appears to be growing, that of his teammates using Freiermuth as the butt of their jokes.

The team's fans yell "Muth," every time he makes a catch, much the same way they yelled "Heath" when former Steelers tight end Heath Miller would make a catch. It even happened in Cleveland of all places last Sunday.

It's led to some ribbing from his teammates.

"He’s a good guy. He’s finally learning how to get two feet in the back of the end zone," Roethlisberger said of the rookie, who admittedly struggled with that in training camp.

After Sunday's game, Harris kept calling "Muth," after walking out of his press conference, even ducking back inside to announce "Muth" was coming.

"Freiermuth got a win in Ohio," former Ohio State offensive lineman Cam Heyward, whose Buckeyes had beaten Penn State the night before.

Finally, fellow rookie center Kendrick Green won a bet with Freiermuth the previous week when the Nittany Lions lost to Illinois in nine overtimes in State College. Freiermuth was forced to wear an Illinois jersey around the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex.

"Nine overtimes later, he doesn't really have a choice," Green said. "Pat's a good dude. I like joking with Pat. That's the fun thing about the NFL, everybody's chirping about their team versus somebody else's team. But Pat's a good sport. He didn't wear the shirt as long as he was supposed to, but I'll take what I can get.

"It was not nine overtimes' worth. He should have worn it for damn near nine days."

After throwing two touchdown passes to Freiermuth in a preseason win over the Lions, Roethlisberger played it cool with the rookie, saying, "I’d like for other teams to not know too much about him." Now, the cat's out of the bag.

The Steelers had a first-round grade on the rookie out of Penn State and were surprised he was still available to them in the second round with the 55th pick. That's what led them to select him over some of the offensive linemen available, despite an obvious need there. And with Smith-Schuster now out, it's paying dividends.

Freiermuth's fourth-down touchdown, fourth-quarter touchdown catch against the Browns provided the winning margin in that game, and had even the Browns raving over the juggling catch.

"It was a hell of a play," said Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. "I did not think it was a catch when I first saw it, but at another angle, I saw him get the second foot down. It is hard to beat that. Hell of a throw and hell of a catch."

It was a pure trust throw on the part of Roethlisberger. Defender Ronnie Harrison had Freiermuth screened off, positioning himself between Roethlisberger and Freiermuth. But he also had his back to the quarterback. Roethlisberger threw it up high to allow the 6-foot-5 rookie to make the play. On fourth down. In a game in which the Steelers trailed.

That's trust.

But when you're catching 81.5 percent of your targets as Freiermuth has this season, you build that kind of trust. Only three other tight ends who have at least 20 receptions have caught a higher percentage of the passes thrown their way -- the Bengals C.J. Uzomah (21 of 23), David Njoku of the Browns (20 of 24) and Rams' Tyler Higbee (30 of 36).

Freiermuth is 35th this season in snap count among NFL tight ends, averaging 37 per game. But he's 17th in receptions, 21st in yards, tied for 12th in touchdowns and 23rd in targets.

All of those numbers will go up as this season continues to progress. He might not finish with the team-high 97 receptions that Smith-Schuster had a year ago, but he's going to continue to be a large part of the offense.

"Pat’s a great student of the game. He cares. He wants to win," offensive coordinator Matt Canada said of the rookie recently. "He wants to be where he’s supposed to be, do what he’s supposed to do. 

"You look at him being a rookie and all the things we’re asking him to do, and I think he gets better every week. That’s gonna continue to grow. The rapport with Ben is big and important and nothing but time and reps gets that done. We can all talk about this and that. Until you’re out there playing, it doesn’t happen. I think he’s doing a great job and we have to continue to try and put him in a position to make plays."