The Steelers are bringing in Arthur Smith to serve as their offensive coordinator. He likes to utilize tight ends, and that makes me wonder whether Pat Freiermuth might be an ascending player.

Freiermuth is a capable enough pass catcher – a 25-year-old who was a second-round pick in 2021. In his last 10 games as a rookie, he caught 49 passes for 397 yards and 6 TDs. And in his nine full games with Kenny Pickett in 2022, Freiermuth averaged 4.4 catches for 52 yards. He was lightly used for most of last year but caught 9 passes for 120 yards in a game at Cincinnati.

Smith likes tight ends. The Falcons last year were the only team in the league that didn’t have two wide receivers who caught 20 passes. The tight ends on that team combined for 114 catches for 1,380 yards and 7 TDs. If we take all the offenses of the last 5 years and order them 1 thru 160 by tight end production (using PPR scoring), Smith’s offenses have ranked 12th, 19th, 24th, 53rd and 118th.

TIGHT ENDS AVERAGING 16 POINTS PER WEEK
YearTeamNoYardsTDPPR/G
2022Kansas City14917651624.8
2019Philadelphia15516101224.3
2019Baltimore12515221422.6
2020Las Vegas12814191321.7
2020Kansas City11815151121.0
2019Oakland1241427920.0
2022Baltimore12714181019.3
2023Minnesota1351367818.8
2021Baltimore1181436918.6
2021Kansas City11312951218.5
2023Kansas City1261315818.0
2023Atlanta1141380717.3
2019Kansas City1081346517.0
2023Arizona1321269517.0
2020Philadelphia1071207716.9
2022Seattle11011641016.8
2021Tampa Bay10011821116.7
2020Miami9110611116.4
2020Tennessee949671216.4
2020Tampa Bay8710921116.4
2023Jacksonville1321153516.3
2019San Francisco1021154716.2
2020Green Bay778451616.1
2021Atlanta1081355516.1
2019LA Rams1101168516.1
2023Cleveland1091095916.0

At the same time, Smith’s offenses tend to rely on multiple tight ends, rather than forcing the ball into the hands of one key player over and over. Kyle Pitts, for example, has been underused. He caught only 53 passes last year – just 3 more than teammate Jonnu Smith.

Arthur Smith has operated five NFL offenses, and only one tight end on those teams has been much of a scorer (Jonnu Smith, who scored 9 TDs back in 2020). Only one other tight end for this coach has scored 4 TDs. Instead, the ball has been spread around. Both of his Tennessee teams had four tight ends who caught touchdowns. In Atlanta, 3, 2 and 3 tight ends have caught touchdowns. So tough to say with any conviction that Freiermuth will be gobbling up a half-dozen touchdowns in the red zone.

In the last five years, Smith’s best tight end (Pitts as a rookie) ranked 6th using PPR scoring. Another four ranked between 13th and 20th in scoring. It’s early, but somewhere late in the teens seems like a reasonable landing drafting spot for Freiermuth.

ARTHUR SMITH'S TIGHT ENDS
YearPlayerTgtRecYdsAvgTDPPRRk
2021Kyle Pitts, Atl.11068102615.11176.66
2023Kyle Pitts, Atl.905366712.63137.313
2020Jonnu Smith, Ten.654144810.99140.216
2023Jonnu Smith, Atl.705058211.63126.217
2019Jonnu Smith, Ten.443543912.53104.720
2020Anthony Firkser, Ten.53393879.9183.725
2022Kyle Pitts, Atl.592835612.7275.634
2021Hayden Hurst, Atl.31262218.5366.136
2019Delanie Walker, Ten.312121510.2254.543
2022MyCole Pruitt, Atl.21161509.4455.045
2019Anthony Firkser, Ten.241420414.6140.449
2020MyCole Pruitt, Ten.85499.8327.967
2023MyCole Pruitt, Atl.12911012.2126.068
2021Lee Smith, Atl.119657.2121.569
2020Geoff Swaim, Ten.129839.2123.370
2019MyCole Pruitt, Ten.869015.0121.072
2022Anthony Firkser, Atl.13910011.1019.082
2022Parker Hesse, Atl.119899.9017.984
2021Parker Hesse, Atl.65438.609.389
2023John FitzPatrick, Atl.111212.002.2106
2023Tucker Fisk, Atl.1199.001.9107
2023Parker Hesse, Atl.000--0.0121

—Ian Allan