After Pat Freiermuth signed a four-year, $48.4 million contract last summer, expectations rose. So, even though he led the Steelers with 65 catches and seven receiving touchdowns in 2024, some might have expected more.

However, a deeper dive into the numbers shows how valuable he already is to this offense.

Perhaps the hiring of Arthur Smith raised the expectations to an unfair level. Smith loves to utilize tight ends, so maybe too many expected a spike in production or at least felt there was a lot of meat left on the bone. Maybe that's best defined by Freiermuth's 655 receiving yards not only ranking 11th among tight ends, but being dwarfed by Brock Bowers, Trey McBride and George Kittle, who all eclipsed 1,100 yards.

However, his 65 catches were a career high and tied for eighth among tight ends. His seven touchdowns matched his career high, and only Mark Andrews, Kittle and Jonnu Smith had more last season.

But, let's look beyond just the basic accumulative stats. When you do, you'll not only see Freiermuth's growth, but also his true value.

First, Freiermuth caught 83.3% of his targets, the highest catch rate of his career. That also includes tying his career-high of four drops, so there's an even higher level there.

However, tight ends can be dangerous weapons on possession downs. Heath Miller doesn't have a spot in the Steelers' Hall of Honor because he was a perennial leader atop the league in receptions and yards for tight ends. A big reason is because 349 of his 592 career receptions moved the chains. He was a security blanket for Ben Roethlisberger, making crucial catches on third downs to keep drives alive.

Freiermuth brings something similar to the table for this offense. He tied for seventh in the NFL last season with 18 receptions on third down, and tied for eighth with 12 of those receptions resulting in a first down. In addition, three third-down receptions went for touchdowns. Only Kittle and Andrews had more.

While those numbers are respectable, those are also accumulative stats. When you look at ratings and percentages, you see how truly reliable Freiermuth was on third down.

Justin Fields and Russell Wilson combined for a 146.9 passer rating when targeting Freiermuth on third down, the second-highest of tight ends with at least 10 targets on third down. Freiermuth also had an 85.7% catch rate on third down, the third-highest among tight ends with at least 10 targets on third down.

Freiermuth also had three third-down targets in which he had contact at the catch point, and he caught all three. Super-receiving tight ends such as Bowers and Travis Kelce only caught 33.3% of such targets.

Another layer to this is how Freiermuth did all of this while being the first read on third down just 17.2% of the time, ranking 15th among all tight ends. That means he was found after the quarterback tried his first read, perhaps even had to improvise and found Freiermuth for back-breaking catches. This was highlighted in the Steelers' win over the Bengals in Cincinnati, in which I broke down during the season in a Chalk Talk video:

Sure, the Steelers would love to have more catches and yards from Freiermuth. That likely means the offense is moving the ball more and potentially scoring more points.

However, don't think Freiermuth isn't worth the contract extension he received last summer. Too often, the players that can wear down defenses by keeping drives alive go as unsung heroes. While there could certainly be more overall production, Freiermuth is still a legitimate weapon.