USATSI
The Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with several significant injuries, but Mike Tomlin did provide one nugget of positivity during his weekly press conference. The head coach said he feels good about tight end Pat Freiermuth possibly being activated from IR and being available for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
Freiermuth has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since Pittsburgh’s Week 4 loss to the Houston Texans. A 2021 second-round pick, Freiermuth’s absence has contributed to the Steelers ranking 29th in the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes through nine games.
A former standout at Penn State, Freiermuth caught seven touchdown passes as a rookie while helping the Steelers make the playoffs during Ben Roethlisberger’s final season. He set career highs with 63 catches for 732 yards last season despite the Steelers changing quarterbacks during the season.
Freiermuth has already caught as many touchdown passes this year (two) as he did all of last season.
Tomlin also provided an update on All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who has missed the Steelers’ last two games while dealing with an ankle injury, is “battling to come back to us” and play this week. Fitzpatrick’s availability for Sunday will depend on how he progresses throughout the week, Tomlin said.
Pittsburgh’s last two wins came at a cost. The Steelers lost both starting inside linebacker Cole Holcomb (knee) and Kwon Alexander (Achilles) to season-ending injuries over that span. With both players out, Elandon Roberts and Mark Robinson are slated to fill their spots in the starting lineup.
“We’re not looking outside the organization, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said when discussing his inside linebacker depth while making mention to practice squad inside backers Mykal Walker and Tariq Carpenter. “We’ve got guys that we’re comfortable with.”