On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced that starting tight end Pat Freiermuth would be headed to IR due to a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the team’s Week Five game against the Baltimore Ravens. This means Freiermuth will miss this week’s game against the Los Angeles Rams and a minimum of the three games after that.
This means the earliest Freiermuth can return is for the Steelers Week 11 road showdown with the Cleveland Browns.
For Freiermuth, this is less than ideal for a guy who will enter into the final year of his rookie contract at the end of the season. The Steelers typically like to extend their top players a year out from allowing them to hit free agency the following season. Pittsburgh could still offer Freiermuth an extension in the offseason despite the problems he’s had this season. Unfortunately, it won’t be for the kind of money he might want.
In 2022, Freiermuth had his best season with 63 receptions for 732 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Had he been able to build off of that this season, there’s no doubt he would have gotten a big raise in an extension. But even before the injury, Freiermuth was off to a rough start.
