This is the seventh in a series reviewing the Steelers' 2024 lineup by position. Today: Tight Ends
Tight Ends: Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, MyCole Pruitt, Connor Heyward
With four tight ends on the active roster all season, it only stands to figure the Steelers utilized that group heavily in the first season in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith's offense.
Pat Freiermuth led the Steelers in receptions with 65 for 653 yards and a team-best seven touchdowns, though there were stretches of the season where he wasn't utilized quite as much.
In the six games from Oct. 6 through Nov. 17, Freiermuth did not get more than three targets in a single game. That's too many games to ignore one of your best pass catchers and a player who wound up leading the team in receptions.
Even so, Freiermuth's reception total was tied for eighth-most among NFL tight ends this season, while his seven touchdowns were tied for fourth-most at the position.
As a group, the Steelers tight ends caught 96 passes for 933 yards and 10 touchdowns, a big uptick from the 2023 season when they combined for just 62 catches for 536 yards and two scores.
Freiermuth obviously led the way with that, but second-year pro Darnell Washington showed he could be more than just a blocker, catching 19 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown.
Because of his talent as a blocker, he played 584 offensive snaps, nearly 52 percent for the season.
The Steelers played with two or three tight ends as much as any team in the league, often with Freiermuth and Washington on the field together. If it wasn't that grouping, MyCole Pruitt and Connor Heyward were on the field as part of those packages, as Pruitt played 24 percent of the offensive snaps, while Heyward was at 18.3 percent as a fullback/h-back.
Pruitt isn't quite the overall blocker as Washington (who is?) but he was solid in that role, though he did miss five games with injuries.
In addition to being used as a fullback, Heyward also is a core special teams player, matching Miles Killebrew for the team lead with 303 special teams snaps played this season.
Freiermuth just signed a contract extension with the team in training camp last offseason, while Washington and Heyward are still working on their rookie deals, but the 32-year-old Pruitt is slated to be an unrestricted free agent when the new league year begins in mid-March.
