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Pat Freiermuth Injury History & Updates

Basic StatsPat Freiermuth’s Basic Stats

Pat Freiermuth
ADP: N/A
Bye: 9
Experience: 3
Age: 26.2
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 258
40 Time: 4.82

Injury PredictorPat Freiermuth's Injury Guide

Very High Risk

Chance of Injury in 2024

88.3%

% chance misses at least 2 quarters

Chance of Injury per Game

11.9%

1- 17√1-% Inj/Season

Projected Games Missed 2024

3.10

Durability

5.00

Ability to produce despire relatively minor injuries. 5 being most durable

Injury analysis powered by Draft Sharks Injury Guide, formerly SIP Logo

Injury History

Date League Injury Details
Nov 28, 2021 NFL Head Cranial Concussion Grade 1 Freiermuth suffered a concussion during the Week 12 loss to the Bengals. He was cleared for the next game.
Dec 19, 2021 NFL Head Cranial Concussion Grade 1 Freiermuth suffered a head injury in the Week 15 win over the Titans.
Jul 28, 2022 NFL Thigh Hamstring Sprain/Pull Unspecified Grade 1 Freiermuth missed about 10 days of practice.
Oct 9, 2022 NFL Head Cranial Concussion Grade 1 This is his 3rd documented concussion as a pro.
Jan 8, 2023 NFL Knee MCL Sprain Grade 2 Freiermuth was hurt while blocking. He avoided surgery.
Sep 10, 2023 NFL Chest Sternum Bruise Freiermuth left Week 1 vs. the 49ers with a chest injury.
Oct 1, 2023 NFL Thigh Hamstring Strain Grade 2 Freiermuth sustained a hamstring injury in Week 4 vs. the Texans. He was placed on IR on September 21.

Basic StatsPat Freiermuth's Preseason Player Analysis

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Bottom Line

Freiermuth should benefit from the departure of OC Matt Canada, whose scheme appeared unprepared for the NFL. OC Arthur Smith figures to keep the passing volume limited, though. QB Russell Wilson is better than Kenny Pickett but also won’t vault his pass-catchers’ upside. Ultimately, Freiermuth has a path to rank second on this team in targets and push for low-TE1 scoring. That makes him a solid pick in the top half of TE2 range. He falls short of being exciting, though.

What We Learned Last Year

  • After catching 60+ balls in each of his first two seasons, Freiermuth should have been a breakout candidate in Year 3. Instead he endured his worst pro season to date.
  • The TE posted a career low 15.9% targets per route, according to Pro Football Focus.
  • His 1.12 yards per route also marked a career low. Freiermuth ranked 30th among 45 TEs who drew at least 30 targets in the regular season.
  • His 68.7 PFF receiving grade rated better – tied for 18th – but also presented a career low.
  • Freiermuth’s rate of inline pass snaps declined significantly – to 43.4% vs. 58.2% in 2022 and 60.9% his rookie year.
    • His 48.9% slot rate marked a steep increase from 36.4% in 2022 and 32.2% in 2021.
  • His rate of catchable targets declined for the second straight year. That number has gone from 84.6% to 81.1% to 80%. Freiermuth ranked 87th among all TEs in that category last season.
  • That came despite his aDOT shortening from 8.4 in 2022 to 7.0 last season.
  • Former Steelers OC (fired in November) drew plenty of criticism for his offenses’ reluctance to use the middle of the field regularly in the passing game.
  • Freiermuth lost five games to a hamstring injury. He previously hurt a hamstring in 2022 training camp, sitting out roughly 10 days of workouts.

What to Expect in 2024

  • It’s tough to know exactly how new OC Arthur Smith will deploy Freiermuth. The coach’s most recent lead TE, Kyle Pitts, is more WR – and certainly a different player type than Freiermuth.
    • Pitts (19.9% across three seasons) and Jonnu Smith (30.5% last year) each spent much less time inline under Arthur Smith than Freiermuth has for any of his Steelers offenses.
    • Hayden Hurst played 43.1% inline for the 2021 Falcons, though.
    • Jonnu Smith saw inline rates of 52.6% and 671% in two seasons with Arthur Smith as his Tennessee OC.
    • Delanie Walker spent 32.3% inline for the 2019 Titans.
  • Freiermuth sports traditional-TE size and less speed than Pitts, Smith, Walker, and maybe even Hurst (4.67 seconds, 74th-percentile).
  • The presence of blocking TE Darnell Washington could continue to free Freiermuth up for more slot usage. But having him and Connor Heyward around might also lower Freiermuth’s ceiling for total playing time.
    • He played 63.3% of snaps over his 12 games last season, down from 67.8% in 2022.
    • Freiermuth ranked a solid 10th among all TEs in pass snaps in 2022, though.
  • Pittsburgh traded away lead target Diontae Johnson this offseason. Replacements Roman Wilson (third-round rookie) and Van Jefferson (vet free agent) mean lesser competition for target share.
  • OC Arthur Smith likely won’t help the overall target volume. His three Atlanta seasons found that team ranking 30th in neutral-situation pass rate. His two years in Tennessee found the Titans ranking 31st.

Recent Injury Bites View All Shark Bites »

George Pickens, WR PIT

1:14pm EST 12/9/24

George Pickens Likely to Miss Week 15 With Grade 2 Hamstring Strain

Steelers WR George Pickens reportedly has a Grade 2 Hamstring strain and will likely miss next week's game against the Eagles. Pickens missed yesterday's game against the Browns as a game-time decision, but the injury appears to be more severe than describing this week.

View Full Story »

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett will miss an "extended period" with his ankle injury, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac. We'll look for a more detailed diagnosis and timetable for Pickett's return, but it sounds like it'll be QB Mitchell Trubisky under center for the Steelers for the foreseeable future. He's completed 63.8% of his passes at 6.7 yards per attempt over the past two seasons in Pittsburgh. Trubisky will be a bottom-barrel QB2 in fantasy football but probably won't be a significant downgrade from Pickett for the offense.

View all Kenny Pickett Shark Bites »

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring) is listed as questionable for this weekend’s game vs. the Browns. He was a full-go on Thursday and Friday, so Freiermuth should play. But coming off a multi-week hamstring injury and facing the league’s top-ranked TE defense, Freiermuth is not a recommended season-long start.

View all Pat Freiermuth Shark Bites »

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring) graduated to a full practice on Thursday. It's confirmation that he's set to return for this weekend's game vs. the Browns. Coming off a multi-week hamstring injury and in a negative matchup. Freiermuth is not a recommended TE1 this week.

View all Pat Freiermuth Shark Bites »

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring) was limited in Wednesday's practice. He's eligible and reportedly on track to play vs. the Browns this weekend. We'll see how he progresses over the next few days.

View all Pat Freiermuth Shark Bites »

How do Injuries impact your draft strategy?

For us, it's 1/17th of the equation. Hear us out.

The Draft War Room is the only live-sync draft tool that monitors 17 crucial in-draft indicators, including injury likelihood… and adapts to show you which players to pick throughout your draft.

See how we built the 17 indicators into our Draft War Room »
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