The injury report for tomorrow’s game was not a pretty one. While the defensive secondary was hit pretty hard, the absence of second-year tight end Pat Freiermuth is also a significant one, as it leaves the Pittsburgh Steelers with just Zach Gentry and rookie sixth-round pick Connor Heyward to man the position.
While Gentry has experience, he has been used primarily as a blocking tight end, though he—and perhaps the team—believes that he has more receiving ability than he has had the opportunity to demonstrate thus far.
As for Heyward, he is not native to the position, either historically or biologically, and that’s going to be a problem when it comes to blocking assignments, leading me to wonder if they will utilize the tackle eligible.