Here's what a contract extension would look like for Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth

To summarize he is 11th in targets, 9th in routes per target, 11th in receptions, 11th in catch rate, 13th in receiving yards and yards per catch, 10th in yards per route run and 14th in touchdowns. He is clearly a top-15 tight end in the NFL.

This gives Freiermuth and the Steelers an $8.5 million range to work within to find an appropriate value for his next deal. The closest of these players to Freiermuth’s last three years worth of production has been Noah Fant.

Here are the two side-by-side:

With a similar number of routes run, Freiermuth has more targets, catches and touchdowns, while Fant has outproduced Freiermuth in catch rate, receiving yards, yards per catch. The two are almost identical in terms of their efficiency (yards per route run).

Fant just signed an extension with the Seahawks for two years and $21 million making him the 11th-highest paid tight end in the NFL. That would be a solid model for a deal between Freiermuth and the Steelers. Pittsburgh should want the extension to be more than two years (likely three, keeping him under contract through 2027. The total for that deal would be three-years and $31.5 million.

Currently the franchise tag for tight ends is projected to be $13,804,000 for 2025 and the 2026 tag would then be $30,368,800. The above proposed deal would pay Freiermuth just a touch above that total over an extra year while also spreading the payments and cap hits over four years.

Final Contract Projection: Three-years, $30.5 million - $12.5 million fully guaranteed