Camp Position Preview: Tight Ends

This is the seventh in a series looking at the Steelers by position heading into their 2024 training camp at Saint Vincent College July 24. Today: Tight End

Players (5): Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward, MyCole Pruitt, Rodney Williams

The 2023 season was a difficult one for Steelers’ starting tight end Pat Freiermuth.

A hamstring injury cost him five full games, while his targets fell from 98 in 2022 to just 47 last season.

In fact, as a group, the Steelers tight ends got just 93 total targets, fewer than Freiermuth got by himself the previous season, showing how the position was somewhat ignored in 2023.

That likely will not be the case again in 2024 with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith now running the offense.

In Atlanta last season, Smith used two tight end sets 61 percent of the time. And his two tight ends, Kyle Pitts and Jonnu Smith, combined to catch 103 passes for more than 1,200 yards and six touchdowns.

Only one team targeted tight ends more than the Falcons.

“It’s very exciting,” Freiermuth said of Smith’s offense. “There’s a lot of stuff for the tight ends.”