Part of the buzz around the Steelers offense going into their 1 p.m. Sunday season opener against the Jets at MetLife Stadium is Aaron Rodgers is ready to open up the middle of the field for the passing attack. That’s something the Steelers have been reluctant to do in recent years, as fifth-year tight end Pat Freiermuth can attest.

But with Rodgers in the fold, Freiermuth feels his true potential as a receiving tight end in the middle of the field could finally be unlocked. When asked Wednesday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Freiermuth noted he’s caught passes over the middle of the field every day in Steelers practices.

It’s something Rodgers feels excited to do during games this season, particularly because of Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward being his tight ends.

“I think it's the best tight end room that I've been around in 21 years because you have four extremely capable guys,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “We had different runs at Green Bay where we had some great players, but just the depth that we have here, with four guys who you feel great about having on field at any time, they all have different skill sets they bring to the table.”

Sports Information Systems charted the Steelers as having the second-fewest passing attempts and completions and third-fewest passing yards in the middle areas of the field last season. Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith notes part of that was to fit the team to his quarterbacks’ skill sets last season.

“It goes back to playing to your strengths,” he said. “If you’re really good outside the numbers and [it depends] on the coverage you’re getting — last year that wasn’t a strength of ours. You look at the history of Russell Wilson, and he throws as good of a go ball as anybody that’s ever played the position. You don’t want to become obvious because other teams look at it.”

And now, with Rodgers, the new fit will involve how the four-time NFL MVP manipulates the defense with his eyes as he picks when and how to target the Steelers’ diversely talented skill players.

“There are a lot of guys who try to mimic his throwing motion [because it] opens up a lot of different things,” Arthur Smith said of Rodgers. “The ball comes out with different timing, and it took some getting used to by some of our players — that’s probably why you saw some drops [during training camp]. We’re just trying to play to some of his strengths and what he sees with those tight-window throws. Aaron’s done it in every passing scheme imaginable.”

For a player entering his 22nd NFL season, Rodgers’ compliment of the Steelers’ tight ends as the best group at their position he’s ever worked with comes as the highest of praises. 8,245 passes into his career, the 6-foot-2, 223-pound 41-year old has the NFL’s highest career passer rating at 102.6.

“That means a lot,” Steelers tight end Jonnu Smith said of Rodgers’ comments. “He’s been around some great talents. We’ve had several conversations of him being in an offense like this with guys who have all these different skill sets. I won’t get into too much scheme, but we have a lot of ways to make our playmakers execute for us.”

After the Steelers traded for DK Metcalf and traded away George Pickens in March, the only additional primary pass catcher the team added was Jonnu Smith — who had just set the Dolphins’ season records for most receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns by a tight end last year. Mike Tomlin sees that group with the Steelers’ supplementary receivers behind Metcalf as a talented unit ready for what the Steelers want to do in the passing game.

“I'm extremely confident in [Calvin Austin III] and also equally confident in Roman Wilson, Jonnu and Freiermuth,” Tomlin said. “I think there is a lot of speculations and narratives about quote-unquote ‘No. 2 [receiver role].’ I think, in today's game, it comes at you in a lot of ways. We certainly have unique depth and talent at the tight end position and particularly in reference to new acquisitions. Jonnu is somewhat of a positionless player.”

Jonnu Smith joins Freiermuth, who tied his career best of seven receiving touchdowns last year and his 65 receptions were the most he’d recorded in a season. The two of them together have shown a varied route tree that opens up many possibilities defenses must prepare for if they want to cover the Steelers’ top two tight ends.

“The sky’s the limit,” Jonnu Smith said of the Steelers’ tight ends. “We’re going to be able to complement each other and play off each other. We’ve got a hell of a tight end room, but every skill-position room is stacked. We’ve got guys who are going to be able to feed off of and help open up the field to create more space and opportunities so we can continue to be the best versions of ourselves.”

“It’s been great,” Freiermuth said of working with Jonnu Smith. “He’s helped me a lot in my abilities, and I’ve helped him in the same ways. We’ve bounced ideas off each other. We’re excited to go out there in Week 1 and execute what [Arthur Smith] puts in front of us. I think you guys will be excited, too.”

The Steelers also have a big tight end threat behind Freiermuth and Smith in third-year player Darnell Washington, whose 6-foot-7, 264-pound frame combined with his athleticism makes him a player Rodgers is excited to target.

“I can't even say who's the most impressive — maybe the biggest guy in the room because of how many things he can do down the field in the passing game,” Rodgers said of Washington. “You know, there was a lot of conversation about: Is he in the right position? The other day, we had a practice during that week before the four days off, and I threw him a bunch of balls in the red zone and I was just thinking to myself, ‘He's definitely in the right position.’ He's so big and so athletic. For a man of that size to be that skilled in the passing game is pretty impressive, not to mention what he does on the line of scrimmage.”

“That’s a different beast right there,” Jonnu Smith said of Washington. “That’s a different style of player. That guy’s going to be a hell of a player for a long time in this league.”

The Steelers project to use plenty of 12 and 13 personnel packages — formations with one running back and either two or three tight ends — this season because of their depth at tight end. That will pose unique challenges to defenses designed for the much more popularly used 11 personnel packages — formations with one running back and one tight end — in today’s NFL. But how teams plan to counter the Steelers’ tight end-heavy formations is something the team plans to monitor and adjust to as the season progresses.

“We’ll see,” Jonnu Smith said of how defenses will play the Steelers. “Week 1 isn’t here yet. We’ve got a couple more days and we’ll find out. We’ve just got to go out there and worry about our ball, execute, focus on us and play to our standard.”

Sunday will be the first flight of the Steelers offense with Rodgers after he sat out all three of the team’s preseason contests in August. Whether there will be a new standard set for how the team attacks the middle of the field with its passing game may play a major role in the team’s success in 2025.

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