While Pat Freiermuth isn’t the biggest name on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense, he is a quality tight end who can cause the Las Vegas Raiders’ defense issues in the Raiders Week 6 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Last season, Freiermuth gave Las Vegas some trouble by catching three passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. In 2024, he’s been a security blanket for quarterback Justin Fields, catching 20 of 22 targets for 179 yards and two touchdowns, per Pro Football Focus, during the team’s first five games of the campaign.
So, let’s flip on the tape and see how the Steelers like to use their tight end.
Not this is a revolutionary scheme, but the Steelers like to run play-action bootlegs and have Freiermuth run drag routes from several different alignments.
Here, they put him in motion pre-snap to get a coverage indicator and find out the Broncos are in zone coverage as he returns to the slot receiver spot he started at, just with a more reduced split or closer to the offensive line.
Something Freiermuth is good at is finding the open areas of the field and this is an example as he adjusts his route to create some space between the linebackers and give Fields a bigger throwing window. That allows Fields to drop the ball in the bucket for a first down inside the five-yard line.
Another impressive aspect about the tight end’s game is he’s hard to bring down and fights for every yard. On this play, he’s the checkdown option and catches the ball right at the line of scrimmage but picks up seven yards after contact to give the Steelers a second and short situation.
Three defenders had to bring him down, including a defensive lineman.
This rep is a little bit of a combination of the last two.
Freiermuth does a decent job of finding some open space on the scramble drill and then forces a couple of missed tackles after the catch. That turns a play that nearly was a sack into roughly a 30-yard gain.
Plays like these are especially concerning for the Raiders since the defense has collectively struggled to tackle this season. Pro Football Focus has Las Vegas on the hook for 66 misses in five games.
This is a nice play design from Pittsburgh, running double-outs with the two slot receivers at the bottom of the screen. That creates a natural pick as No. 19 runs into the nickel corner to help Freiermuth get into the endzone.
Also, Freiermuth settles down in the hole against zone coverage and has a knack for turning up the field to get north and south with the ball in his hands. That, in addition to fighting through contact, allows him to put points on the board.
Here, we’ll see a nice route from the tight end against a defensive back.
Freiermuth does two things that stand out on this route. One, he attacks the defensive back’s leverage to give himself a two-way go and avoid tipping what direction he’s going. Two, he uses his size advantage and hands at the top of the route to create separation and give the quarterback plenty of space to throw.
After the catch, again, this man refuses to be tackled and will fight defenders for every single yard.
We’ll end with a creative play design that Las Vegas needs to be prepared for in the red zone or near the goal line.
A lot is going on here. Pittsburgh is showing quarterback counter which the defense has to respect given Fields’ rushing ability. Also, it looks like Fields has the option to throw the halfback screen here as he’s reading the middle linebacker. With the linebacker mirroring or flowing with the back, the quarterback flips the ball to the tight end, who was pulling for the counter action.
So, this is essentially a triple option as Fields can keep the ball and run too, creating a headache for the defense. And yes, the left tackle should be flagged for being too far down the field, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Steelers clean that up and relying on the refs to make a call is a risky proposition.
As far as Freiermuth’s contributions on this rep, the play call is the primary factor here but we do see another example of how his ability to get north and south can help put points on the board.