Pittsburgh Steelers: High and lows of offensive rookies

The Pittsburgh Steelers have never been a team that seems to be inexperienced when starting off the year. This year’s team is very different from the ones in the past, however. The Steelers typically ease their rookies in like they did with Chase Claypool last year. This season, starting in week 1, there were four rookies — all on offense — that started the season against the Buffalo Bills.

The four starting offensive rookies for the Pittsburgh Steelers were Najee Harris, Pat Freiermuth, Dan Moore Jr., and Kendrick Green. We also saw a lot of Tre Norwood rotating into the nickel corner position from his traditional role at safety and Isaiah Loudermilk get some time at interior defensive end in that 3-4 defense.

Week one, this unit seemed to fit right in even with not much experience in upsetting the Bills at home. As the next two weeks flew by there has become a real concern about how ready some of these guys really are going forward in the 2021-22 NFL season.

Let’s begin with the high points for these Steelers rookies. You’ve got to start with their first selection of this year’s draft. Najee Harris has been an absolute workhorse for the Pittsburgh Steelers so far this season.

In week one against the Bills, he played 100 percent of the offensive snaps, which is unheard of for a rookie that is not a quarterback. So far this season, Harris has 40 carries for 123 yards and 20 catches for 149 yards with 1 receiving TD.

Harris is slowly forming into the missing puzzle piece the Pittsburgh Steelers have been looking for since Le’Veon Bell left town. Harris has shown speed in cutting the edge on outside runs and screens, power in fighting between the tackles, and great pass-catching ability making him a three-down back.

Harris is slowly becoming the number one option in the pass and run game for the Steelers.

Another bright light from this rookie group is the tight end, Pat Freiermuth. Frieirmuth is becoming a fan favorite, for the Yinzers scream “MUTHHH” after every grab, and his quarterback Big Ben publicly said Frieirmuth needs more touches. Freiermuth is a huge target at 6-foot-5, weighing 258 pounds, and was even given the nickname Baby Gronk at Penn State.

Freiermuth has shown soft hands in tightly contested matches and has become very bright on Ben Roethlisberger’s radar. While being a great pass-catching tight end, Freiermuth has shown he is also great in run blocking situations. Week 1 at the Bills he bounced a corner right out the club on a long Najee Harris run.

Eric Ebron will be a free agent this upcoming offseason and if Pat Freiermuth keeps this production up you may see a new TE1 for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Where we see a lot of promise in the rookies Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth, the two other starting rookies for the Pittsburgh Steelers have not followed in their footsteps. The last time we have seen a rookie center start a game for the Pittsburgh Steelers was in 2010 when number 53 Maurkice Pouncey started his rookie year.

Now in 2021 number 53 Kendrick Green is the starting center for the Pittsburgh Steelers and looks like he needs some development. The Pittsburgh Steelers also have a new left tackle starting for them in Dan Moore Jr. since Zach Banner has been injured all season making Chukwuma Okorafor flip back to the right side of the line.

Kendrick Green has not shown the ability to pull on outside runs and screen passes like Pouncey was so fluent at. Though it will take time Kendrick Green has seen to be uncomfortable, especially last week with D.J Reader and Larry Ogunjobi creating a lot of pressure up the middle.

Dan Moore Jr. is also not off to the best start blocking for Big Ben’s blindside. There have been a lot of tipped balls to Moore’s side of the field and he has been stiff in his pass protection. Both of these young O-Lineman have seem lost in their first three starts.

These young rookies on the offensive side of the ball have shown some high points and some low ones as well for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Najee Harris could be the next Le’Veon Bell for the Steel City and Freiermuth could be the next Heath Miller.

Harris is already an all-down back and doesn’t look like stopping. Although Harris has had some struggles most of it is due to their offensive line with the two rookies already mentioned and second-year player Kevin Dotson now starting.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had the second most rookies start week 1 of the season and will need to rely on these guys playing big roles going further if they want to make up for the 1-2 start in 2021.