Pat Freiermuth, who never dropped a pass in the red zone at Penn State, is at it again.
The Steelers’ second-round draft choice caught two touchdowns from Ben Roethlisberger in Saturday night’s preseason victory against the Detroit Lions, each time making a twisting, over-the-shoulder catch over a defender. The catches were for 8 and 11 yards and almost in the identical spot in the end zone.
The catches did not come as a surprise to anybody who has watched Freiermuth throughout the spring and into training camp.
“I don’t think he showed us anything different than he’s shown us throughout every component of this process, even dating back to minicamp,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “You know, he made a very similar play in red zone work in minicamp, so I don’t think any of us are surprised by what he was able to do tonight.”
The Steelers thought so highly of Freiermuth they skipped a more immediate need at center in the second round of the draft to take the 6-foot-5, 258-pound tight end, who caught 92 passes for 1,185 yards and 16 touchdowns (a school record for tight ends) at Penn State. And he shows why just about every day.
His teammates say they’ve never seem him drop a pass in practice, though Freiermuth claims he has dropped one or two — probably to take some of the pressure and attention away from the impressive streak. Even when Roethlisberger would deliberately throw awkward passes to him in the spring, Freiermuth usually found a way to catch any pass he could get to hit his hands.
“The first time in OTAs when he came, he was throwing it all over the place for me and I was just very confused, I was like, ‘Am I doing something wrong?’ All that kind of stuff,” Freiermuth said. “And [Eric Ebron] and Zach [Gentry] were like, ‘He does this to see what your range is like.’
“So it helped me a lot in OTAs and training camp, stuff like that. He sees where I can make adjustments and stuff like that so it’s awesome and, you know, it kind of showed on the field (Saturday).”
Freiermuth is not expected to be anointed a starter ahead of Eric Ebron, but he will play a lot, maybe even as much as Ebron, in the regular season — whether in two tight-end sets or alone as the in-line tight end. With rookie starters drafted ahead of him (Najee Harris) and behind him (Kendrick Green), the immediate impact of the top end of this draft class can be significant as any the Steelers have had in many years.
“With this rookie group we get better every day,” said Harris, who continues to show why he was the top running back selected in the draft. “Coming in, a lot of us had a good opportunity to play as rookies. To get better every day as a rookie was really emphasized a lot this year because a lot of us would play early.”
Ingram impresses
Melvin Ingram has spent a lot of time with the first-team defense with T.J. Watt not practicing or playing while the Steelers are working on a new contract for their All-Pro outside linebacker. And Ingram has shown some of the reasons he was a five-time Pro Bowl selection with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Tomlin has referred to Ingram, who was signed to a one-year, $4 million contract in July, as a “run-game bully.” And he showed that against the Lions when he dropped running back Dedrick Mills for a 3-yard loss, drew a holding penalty and even caused an illegal formation penalty when the Lions tried to block him with tight end Darren Fells.
When Watt returns, Ingram, 32, will assume the role for which he was signed — to serve as a backup edge rusher on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Alex Highsmith, who has been one of the best players in training camp, is the starter on the right side.
“Ever since Melvin came in, he’s been willing to teach me a lot,” said Highsmith, who enters his second season and will replace Bud Dupree. “I’ve seen him make plays and seen the type of guy he is. It’s been awesome to be able to play with him so far this preseason. We’re just both trying to push each other to be the best we can be.”
Schobert’s show
Another new linebacker, Joe Schobert, made his first appearance after being acquired in a trade last week. Unlike Ingram, Schobert is penciled in as an immediate starter next to Devin Bush on the inside.
Schobert played 25 snaps against the Lions — same as Bush — and was credited with three tackles in what was his first contact of the preseason, game or practice. The Jaguars don’t tackle in practice and he was traded before their first preseason game.
“So it was jumping into the first (action) out there,” Schobert said. “It was good though, I think. A little concern just in my job and my responsibility, so I didn’t play as fast as I could. But I think, overall, it was a good night.
“The offense had a lot of long drives, the defense didn’t really have to do a lot in the first half, so it was a success in my book.”
Rough night
Rookie cornerback Shakur Brown did not play until the second half and did not distinguish himself in the game, getting called for a hands-to-the-face penalty on one play and getting lost in coverage in another.
Brown is an undrafted free agent from Michigan State and had a good start to camp, hoping to make the 53-man roster like cornerback James Pierre, an undrafted free agent, did in 2020. Now Brown is fighting just to secure a spot on the practice squad.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: August 22, 2021, 4:51 p.m.