Pittsburgh Steelers take Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth in NFL Draft
Penn State football had its first offensive player of the 2021 NFL Draft taken Friday night in the second round. Pat Freiermuth was selected No. 55 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers, staying in-state to begin his NFL career. He is the first Nittany Lion tight end to get selected since his predecessor, Mike Gesicki, went No. 42 overall to the Miami Dolphins in 2018.
He was the third Nittany Lion to go in the draft after Micah Parsons was selected No. 12 by the Dallas Cowboys and Odafe Oweh went No. 31 to the Baltimore Ravens.
Freiermuth spent three years at Penn State and was a stalwart for the team’s offense. He appeared in 30 games, starting in 26 of them, and finished his career as a two-time captain.
He didn’t perform in any drills at the program’s March pro day but he did do workouts just over four months after he had surgery to repair his injured shoulder that caused him to miss the final five games of his college career.
He racked up plenty of numbers in his three years, exploding on the scene as a freshman and quickly becoming one of quarterback Trace McSorley’s favorite targets in their lone season together on campus. Freiermuth started in nine of the team’s 13 games, finishing with eight touchdown catches, good for second in the FBS and first in the Big Ten among tight ends.
The tight end followed that season up with more dominance, earning a selection to the All-Big Ten second team by coaches and the media and garnering second team All-American by The Athletic.
Freiermuth closed out his career by only playing in four games in 2020 then hitting the shelf due to injury, but still managed to earn plenty of accolades. He was named first team All-Big Ten by the coaches and second team All-Big Ten by the media while winning the Kwalick-Clark Big Ten Tight End of the Year, making him the first Nittany Lion to do so. He only scored one touchdown in 2020, but that was enough to put him in first place all-time at Penn State among tight ends with 16.
The former Nittany Lion will have a chance to get some early playing time, draft analyst Steve Muench told the Centre Daily Times in January.
“I think he can start right away,” Muench said. “I think he can be a No. 1 tight end right away ... Because if you look at that position, and we see it every year — it’s easy to see if you’re a fantasy football player — that position doesn’t have a ton of great talent in it. I do think he’s gonna be a No. 1 starting tight end as a rookie.”
