The Steelers Should Be Worried About The Vikings' Monumental Resetting Of The Tight End Market

The Pittsburgh Steelers are already looking to be in trouble in 2024 with the cap space. They have 39 players scheduled to be under contract for the 2024 season and seem to have roughly just $7.5 million in cap space. After the 2023 season, tight end Pat Freiermuth becomes eligible for an extension as all draft picks do after their third seasons in the NFL are completed. So far in the 2023 offseason, we have seen many young tight ends ink contract extensions with the latest being Minnesota Vikings' T.J. Hockenson. 

Earlier in the 2023 offseason, the Chicago Bears and fourth-year tight end Cole Kmet agreed to a four-year, $50 million extension. Of course Kmet has great blocking ability and a good chemistry building with their quarterback Justin Fields, but he has never had a statistically better season than Freiermuth. Freiermuth has a higher career high in yards, and they share the same career high for touchdowns, but Freiermuth has a significantly better run after the catch ability. Freiermuth is expected to take a leap this year, so it is fair to say he will be earning a better extension than what Kmet received from Chicago. 

Steelers Are Definitely Effected By Hockenson's New Deal

Hockenson's new deal with the Vikings is worth $68.5 million over four years with an average annual value of $17.13 million a season. He had his best season in production in the passing game with 914 yards in his fourth season in 2022. Prior to that, his career high was 723 yards in a year. His current career high in receiving touchdowns is six in a season. He has also missed nine games in his NFL career due to some sort of injury-related issue. The reason I say all of this is because Freiermuth is not far off at all from the production of Hockenson. 

Freiermuth has a career high of seven touchdowns in a season, and it came in his rookie year. It dropped down to just two in 2022, but with Kenny Pickett improving and the offense taking a step forward, we can expect Freiermuth bounce back in that department. Freiermuth recorded 732 receiving yards in 2022, averaging roughly 11 yards per reception. He has had some concern with concussions in the past, but has only missed two games in his career. If you asked most NFL fans if these two tight ends would be worth the same, most would say no. However, with an expected jump in play in 2023 from Freiermuth, he could very well earn himself a high-value long-term extension. 

Hockenson earned his contract in the 2022 season where he had nearly 1,000 receiving yards, despite being traded midseason. He is the Vikings second-best pass catcher behind Justin Jefferson. Hockenson was able to use the fact that the Vikings gave up significant draft capital, a second and third-round pick, for him in his negotiations. This gave him some leverage. Freiermuth will certainly be looking for an extension in the same ball-park as Hockenson either after the 2023 season or after the 2024 season. This leaves one question for Steelers fans: What kind of leap does Freiermuth have to take in 2023 to earn this kind of money?

As was said earlier, Hockenson and Freiermuth have not been insanely far apart in production. Both can be efficient and useful in the red zone when given the opportunity, and Freiermuth was about 175 yards behind Hockenson in 2022. However, it is expected for the Steelers offense to open up a bit in 2023 and take a leap in production as whole. With Pickett showing noticeable improvement, and receivers like Diontae Johnson and George Pickens drawing a lot of attention from the defense, Freiermuth could be poised for a big year. 

I imagine if Freiermuth gets back to his rookie self in terms of scoring touchdowns, and eclipses that 850-yard mark in 2023, we could see a big extension for him coming. Hopefully the Steelers can find a way to make that work. 

What do you think about the tight end market? Let us know in the comments below!

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