{"id":91529,"date":"2026-01-20T11:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/91529\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T11:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:17:10","slug":"pat-freiermuth-admits-frustration-with-steelers-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/91529\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Freiermuth Admits Frustration with Steelers Offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth in a game against the Houston Texans on Jan. 13, 2026. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth admitted during locker room clean out day last Tuesday that the 2025 season was a trying year for him. <\/p>\n

Freiermuth finished the season with 41 receptions on 53 targets for 486 yards (11.9 average) and four touchdowns. Freiermuth\u2019s playing time dipped with the emergence of Darnell Washington and Jonnu Smith receiving snaps over him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that I am disappointed with the lack of opportunities I was given, but at the end of the day, I\u2019m a team player, and I was proud of myself for not making it about myself,\u201d Freiermuth said. <\/p>\n

The offense improved under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in 2025, but his personnel usage was still confusing. Especially with how he utilized Freiermuth. Arthur Smith continued to play Jonnu Smith even though he lacked chemistry with Aaron Rodgers all year. <\/p>\n

Freiermuth hopes to be more involved moving forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always about the team and what we can do to win,\u201d Freiermuth said. \u201cI feel like I could have been in situations where I could help the team win more. But the longer I\u2019m here, I would like to see myself involved more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freiermuth also hopes Rodgers returns next season. If the four-time NFL MVP isn\u2019t back, Freiermuth will once again have another quarterback under center. <\/p>\n

\u201cPretty tough, especially as a pass-catcher,\u201d Freiermuth said on the possibility of having a different quarterback next season. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be what, 10 quarterbacks in six years? It\u2019s pretty frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth runs a route against the New England Patriots on Sept. 21, 2025. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Freiermuth, it seems very unlikely that Arthur Smith will be back in 2026. <\/p>\n

Steelers president Art Rooney II revealed<\/a> during his Wednesday press conference that he does not think anyone on the staff currently will be a candidate for the vacant head coach position.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I don\u2019t think anybody on our staff is a candidate,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cMaybe a candidate to stay on the staff depending on what the new head coach wants to do, but probably not as a head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is the only one that could have been seen as a candidate. The fact that he\u2019s not even getting an interview suggests that the organization wasn\u2019t pleased with how things ended.<\/p>\n

An unnamed Steelers player told Mike DeFabo of The Athletic that players had problems<\/a> with Arthur Smith and Teryl Austin, but not Mike Tomlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery player in that building wants to play for Mike T,\u201d said the player. \u201cWere guys upset with coordinators? Yes. Was it the head guy? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added another player: \u201cWe knew something was going to change. We just didn\u2019t know it would be that. The guys that have been here longest, we don\u2019t think that Mike T was the issue. We genuinely never lost the belief in the locker room. It was super emotional for us, because it\u2019s not him.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a chance that Smith could stay on the staff<\/a> with a new head coach. But given DeFabo\u2019s report, it would be surprising if that occurs. <\/p>\n

Brendan Howe provided reporting from Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Arthur Smith<\/a> Pat Freiermuth<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth in a game against the Houston Texans on Jan. 13,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15642,3275,73,75,74,1833,1829,22891],"class_list":["post-91529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-arthur-smith","tag-pat-freiermuth","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}