Steelers Tight End Pat Freiermuth Out Long Term

The Pittsburgh Steelers have placed tight end Pat Freiermuth on the injured reserve list, the club announced on Saturday, meaning that he will miss at least the next four games with his hamstring injury.

Freiermuth initially suffered the injury during the team’s Week 4 loss to the Houston Texans. He sat out the team’s Week 5 win over the Baltimore Ravens, but after the Week 6 bye, he said he planned to play this Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

A setback in practice prevented that from happening and will have Freiermuth out even longer. Freiermuth was a full participant in practice on Wednesday and looked good at the start of practice Thursday, but was listed as limited by the end of that day and missed Friday’s practice altogether. He had already been ruled out of this week’s game by the team.

With Freiermuth placed on the IR, he will now be forced to miss the next four games. The first game that he will be eligible to return from IR is the team’s Nov. 19 visit to the Cleveland Browns in Week 11.

In four games this season, Freiermuth has caught eight of 13 targets for 53 yards and two touchdowns. The third-year player out of Penn State had been poised for a breakout season after setting career highs in targets (98), receptions (63) and yards (732) in 2022. Instead, he will now miss at least six of 17 regular-season games.

The Steelers started rookie tight end Darnell Washington in Freiermuth’s place in Week 5 against the Ravens. Connor Heyward and Rodney Williams II are the other two tight ends on the roster.

Heyward has five catches for 42 yards this season, while Washington has 1 for 10 yards. Williams was elevated from the practice squad to the 53-man roster ahead of the Baltimore game, but played just four snaps on offense.