Pick Up and Start Tight End Pat Freiermuth

There's a new reliable receiving threat on the Steelers Offense and his name is Pat Freiermuth.

The rookie tight end out of Penn State has been a hot target recently in the Steelers offense and I don't see him cooling down anytime soon.

Currently, Freiermuth is only owned in 39.2% of ESPN Fantasy Football leagues and will be a solid start at tight end in Fantasy Football due to the Steeler's week 10 matchup vs the Detroit Lions.

But I think he's also capable of being a solid starter at tight end for the rest of the season too.

The main reason you'll want to own and start Freiermuth now and going forward is that he is a reliable pass-catching option for the Steelers offense.

In total, Freiermuth has caught 27 receptions of 33 targets for 245 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns this season. The most intriguing part of this is that 59% of Freiremuth's total receiving yards and receptions, 70% of his total targets, and 75% of all his total touchdowns this season have come from his last 3 games (vs SEA, CLE, and CHI) where Freiermuth has had a catch rate of 84.2% with 16 receptions out of 19 targets for 145 yds and 3 Touchdowns in that time span.

Over his past 3 games, Freiermuth's average target share has also increased by 13%. Freiermuth went from averaging 6.3% of the Steelers' total targets over his first 5 games to average 19.3% of the Steeler's total targets over the past 3 games.

This essentially means the Steelers are throwing to Freiermuth more often and trying to get him more involved in the game which is good in terms of fantasy football because typically a higher target volume correlates with a better fantasy performance.

Freiermuth's (19.3% avg) target share over the past 3 games has even been better than Steelers second-year WR Chase Claypool (16.2% avg), veteran WR James Washington (4.9% avg), and stud RB Najee Harris (12.1% avg).

Even though WR Diontae Johnson is the clear go-to receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers with a commanding 24.2% avg target share of nearly 10 targets a game, Freiermuth has been making a case as a second reliable option in the Steelers Offense. It's been said that QB Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers have really loved what they've seen from Freiermuth so far too, so it's not surprising that Ben has been giving him more looks in games especially when their other "weapons" haven't really been doing much lately.

Moving forward, if Freiermuth keeps making plays and putting up consistent numbers, I see the Steelers continuing to look towards him as a viable option in this Pittsburgh passing offense.

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