Pittsburgh Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth is entering his sixth season in the NFL. During that time, he\u2019s played under several offensive coordinators. During his first two seasons, it was Matt Canada. In his third season, Canada was fired midseason, and interim co-coordinators Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan ran the offense. The last two seasons, it was Arthur Smith.<\/p>\n
This year, Freiermuth will not only have a new offensive coordinator in Brian Angelichio, but he\u2019ll also play for an offense-minded head coach in Mike McCarthy. That\u2019s a big departure for Freiermuth. On Wednesday, a reporter asked him what he likes about McCarthy\u2019s offense, and Freiermuth couldn\u2019t help but smile during his response.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse of the middle of the field,\u201d Freiermuth said per video from the Steelers\u2019 YouTube channel<\/a>. \u201cThe use of the talent we have. I\u2019m excited for what\u2019s going to come this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this offseason, Freiermuth said he feels the offense will be the best it\u2019s been since the Ben Roethlisberger era<\/a>. Freiermuth\u2019s first season in the league was Roethlisberger\u2019s last. So he got to see the end of the era up close and personal. He\u2019s got a better perspective on that offense than any other offensive player in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n No doubt Freiermuth still feels a little hard done by the offensive struggles over the last few years. Under Arthur Smith, we expected a tight end-centric offense. Unfortunately for Freiermuth, that didn\u2019t translate into more targets. If anything, it went down. He saw 54 targets, the fewest in his career in a season in which he played every single game. TE Jonnu Smith, whom the Steelers brought in as part of the DB Jalen Ramsey trade, saw the same number of targets.<\/p>\n Pat Freiermuth is now excited about his new offense, while Smith just signed with the Green Bay Packers<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n An offense that favors using the middle of the field, something that hasn\u2019t happened in recent years, should benefit Pat Freiermuth greatly. After all, he\u2019s a tight end. He spends a lot of time in the middle of the field. The emphasis on using the middle of the field is a big departure from under former head coach Mike Tomlin.<\/p>\n Tomlin didn\u2019t want his offense targeting the middle of the field because he believed that\u2019s where many turnovers occur<\/a>. He was a defensive-minded coach, so he wanted his offense to protect the ball and keep his defense fresh. However, anytime an offense ignores a part of the field, that makes life easier for the opposing defense. He felt the trade-off was worth it; Freiermuth obviously doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n McCarthy is an offensive coach. He doesn\u2019t want to limit his offense by ignoring a portion of the field. That will help tight ends like Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, and Robert Tonyan. We saw that in training camp, where our very own Alex Kozora saw how much Freiermuth was being used<\/a>:<\/p>\n