Football Footnotes: More 'Muuuth? Aaron Rodgers wants 'more opportunities' for Pat Freiermuth

The 2025 season opened up with the concept that the Pittsburgh Steelers really didn’t need to acquire a high-profile replacement for George Pickens at wide receiver. The tight ends were supposed to handle the job of being the second pass-catching option to DK Metcalf.

If you add up the totals of all four players at the position — Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward — you can get there. At 64 catches for 583 yards over nine games, that’s 7.1 catches for 64.7 yards per game and seven touchdowns.

Overall, that’s not bad. But we’re talking about adding up four players to get there. And if those four guys are the collective second option, what are the team’s No. 3 or No. 4 outlets?

Not much. In part, that’s why the Steelers are 23rd in passing (195 yards per game), 28th in total offense (280.7 yards per game) and 27th in third-down conversions (36%).

In this Friday’s “Football Footnotes,” we examine if this week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals can be a breakout contest for the tight ends.

In the past against the Bengals, it certainly has been.

In his career, Pat Freiermuth has 600 receiving yards on 48 catches for six touchdowns against Cincinnati. Those are, by far, career-best stats against any opponent.

“They’ve played a lot of zone, particularly with their previous coordinator (Lou Anarumo), and that’s why he’s had some big games against those guys,” head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “There is no secret that ‘Muth has very good zone awareness, and he is a zone killer. That’s why he’s had some of the games he’s had against those guys.”

In Game 1 against the Bengals last month, Freiermuth had 111 yards and two scores on five catches.

68-YARD TOUCHDOWN!!!!! @pat_fry5

????: #PITvsCIN on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/9cu7D5Kgc5

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 17, 2025

“Maybe schematically it works out for me. But those games are in the past. Hopefully, (the tight ends) can contribute this week,” Freiermuth said. “Every game we go into, we look forward to being a big part of the game. Hopefully, that turns out this weekend (against) Cincinnati.”

Unfortunately, in all of his other games combined this year, Freiermuth has only 17 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers wants to see that change.

“I feel like he had more reps that game and more opportunities to be in the progression, early in the progression. I think that was a big part of it,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “Pat’s a really smart player, and we’ve got to keep finding ways to get him on the field. Darnell (Washington) has been a big part of our success, but we’ve got to give Pat some more opportunities too. Maybe both of them out there at the same time.”

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The question now becomes, if the Bengals finally get effective at taking away Freiermuth, can the Steelers’ other tight ends exploit the defense?

Specifically, Jonnu Smith.

Despite all the excitement about how Smith could potentially fit in this offense upon his arrival from Miami, he is only averaging 18.1 yards per game and 6.3 per catch to go along with two touchdowns.

“We’ve got to make plays when afforded the opportunity,” Smith said of the entire tight end unit. “Zone, man coverage, whatever. That’s our job. Whenever our number is called upon, we’ve got to make plays.”

In theory, it shouldn’t matter who the tight end is. As Bengals play-by-play voice Dan Hoard noted during Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast, the club has had problems with that aspect of defense for quite some time.

“I don’t know what they do with Freiermuth, because they’ve never been able to stop him,” Hoard said. “For years now, regardless of who the defensive coordinator is, regardless of the personnel on the field, they have just had a hard time stopping good tight ends.”

Hoard pointed to the departure of one particular player on defense that has hurt Cincinnati in that area.

“In their Super Bowl season (2021), they had a guy named Tre Flowers, who’s kind of a journeyman cornerback/safety. He became their designated ‘cover the tight end guy’ late in that season. He did a decent job with that, particularly against Travis Kelce (Kansas City) in the two times that they met late in that season, including the AFC Championship game,” Hoard continued. “But aside from that run, tight ends have been killing the Bengals for years. Between Mark Andrews (Baltimore) and Freiermuth, it happens four times a year in the division.”

Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said he would like to see Jonnu Smith get more involved as a potential way to alleviate some of the pressure on DK Metcalf.

“That’s what helped us in the Indy game (3 catches, 25 yards),” Arthur Smith said. “Those are things you have to problem-solve every week, find different ways, make sure we get our guys the football that can move the chains for us and create explosives, ultimately score touchdowns. That’s an ongoing thing. It’s a collective effort.”

Meanwhile, the Bengals’ top tight end, Noah Fant, is solid but not spectacular. He is giving them 3.1 catches per game for 27.5 yards per contest and three touchdowns, including one against the Steelers.

FANT FINDS SIX

????: #PITvsCIN on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/CfNuWvf0SN

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 17, 2025

After having some significant problems with tight ends earlier in the season, the Steelers have done a better job of late against them — particularly against Tyler Warren (Indianapolis) and Oronde Gadsden (Los Angeles Chargers) the last two weeks. Those two emerging rookies combined for just eight catches and 39 yards.

This week, the Steelers will have much bigger fish to fry when it comes to their attempts to slow down Cincy’s top two wide receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Listen: Tim Benz interviews Bengals play-by-play voice Dan Hoard about the upcoming Steelers-Bengals game