Built using time, money and draft capital, Steelers’ tight end corps gains prominence

JuJu Smith-Schuster’s season-ending injury has provoked plenty of talk about which wide receiver would step up his role in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense.

But what if the vacuum created by Smith-Schuster’s shoulder surgery wasn’t filled by wide receivers at all?

“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Zach Gentry said with a mixture of jocularity and sheepishness, “to getting more balls for the tight end room, that’s for sure.”

In the first game without Smith-Schuster, that’s exactly what happened.

The Steelers’ three-man tight ends corps combined for season highs in targets (nine), catches (nine) and snaps played (102) during Sunday’s 23-20 overtime win against the Seattle Seahawks.

Gentry (23) and Pat Freiermuth (45) played season highs in snaps in that game, and Eric Ebron played his second-most snaps this season (34). Freiermuth, a rookie from Penn State, had career highs in targets and catches (seven each). Ebron matched his season high with two catches.

“Everybody wants the ball more. Everybody wants to be more involved,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said this week. “That’s part of what happens when you have as much talent as we have on the edge. Pat is coming on, doing a great job. Ebron’s a guy that’s done a lot where he’s been and here in the past. We’ll continue to try to use everybody the best way we can.”

Reinvigorated by a new unit coach and a high-round draft pick, the #Steelers tight ends are out to provide a swift kick to the figurative backside of an offense that languished down the stretch last season.https://t.co/8Y7DESrGIs

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) July 31, 2021

In building their tight end position group, the Steelers invested each of the NFL’s three most coveted resources: money (on Ebron), draft capital (Freiermuth) and time (Gentry).

Ebron was signed in free agency and has been compensated about $12 million for the past two seasons, and Freiermuth was a second-round pick. Gentry was a fifth-rounder in 2019, and they Steelers knew patience would be needed as he continued a transition from quarterback to tight end.

It took until his third season, but the 6-foot-8, 265-pound Gentry has developed into a reliable, regular contributor.

“He’s a big guy who can block,” Canada said. “We think he can also be a threat in the passing game.

“He’s improved. He’s a guy that’s put a lot of time in here long before I came around, and you can see what that work has done.”

Among 67 eligible tight ends in the NFL, Pro Football Focus grades Gentry as the fifth best in pass blocking and in the top third in run blocking. Add in three catches on four targets in 24 times out on a route this season, and it’s easy to see why Gentry’s playing time has been increasing.

“I am taking it as it comes,” Gentry said. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s definitely a lot more fun when I am getting opportunities and I am able to go out and showcase some things I can do.”

Freiermuth showed what he could so over 30 games at Penn State, setting the program record for touchdowns by a tight end with 16. The No. 55 overall pick, Freiermuth showed during camp that he was a willing and capable blocker, and his sure hands wowed coaches and teammates.

That has played out. No tight end or wide receiver who has been targeted as many as 20 times this season has caught a higher percentage than Freiermuth (90%), who has no drops and has had 12 of his 18 receptions go for first downs.

“He’s doing a really good job,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said last week.

“He’s always in the right spot.”

Freiermuth and Gentry each in part credit Ebron for their development. An outspoken eight-year veteran, Ebron is embracing a mentor role as his on-field usage slowly declines.

“‘E’ is awesome,” Freiermuth said. “I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Ebron averaged more than 11 yards per catch and had 28 receptions of at least 20 yards over the five seasons before joining the Steelers. With Smith-Schuster out, is that sort of big-play ability ready to manifest itself for the Steelers’ tight ends room?

“If it’s there vertically, then we will attack vertically,” Freiermuth said. “But obviously it’s whatever (coaches) see us doing fit (in the gameplan) that we are going to do.”

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