Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth Questionable to Return vs. Browns

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth is questionable to make his return to the lineup this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, the team announced Friday in its official injury report.

After being a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice, Freiermuth was a full participant both Thursday and Friday, and appears to be trending toward a return.

In order for Freiermuth to play this Sunday in Cleveland, he will have to be reinstated from the injured reserve to the 53-man roster. The Steelers currently have two vacancies on that roster, after waiving nose tackle Breiden Fehoko and putting linebacker Kwon Alexander on IR earlier this week.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that he “feels good” about Freiermuth’s chances to return to action this week.

“I feel good about Pat Freiermuth and we’ll watch him go through the week and look at the quality of his work, how much of it and how he feels and let that be the determining factor,” Tomlin said. “I feel good about his potential availability.”

Those words echoed what Freiermuth said last week, when he said he planned to practice and hoped to be able to participate when the Steelers visit the Browns on Sunday.

“I’m not gonna jinx it this time,” he said last Wednesday after running off to the side while his teammates practiced.

Freiermuth had been close to returning once before, when he was a full participant in a Week 7 practice leading up to the team’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, but suffered a setback that landed him on the IR.

He has been out since he first suffered the injury in Week 4 against the Houston Texans. Freiermuth has eight catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns in four games this season. The third-year Penn State product had 63 grabs for 732 yards and two scores last season.