Jonnu

Smith

Freiermuth ran a pass route on 22 of the Steelers’ 36 drop backs, leading all tight ends and seeing a small bump in playing time with Darnell Washington sidelined with a concussion he sustained in the first quarter. Jonnu Smith, meanwhile, ran just 13 routes and saw one target. Freiermuth, who doesn’t have more than three receptions in the game since Week 6, could have some deep-league fantasy relevance in Week 15 against the Dolphins if Washington enters the league’s concussion protocol and misses a game or two.

Smith again was not part of Steelers passing offense even with Darnell Washington sideline with a concussion for most of the game. Arthur Smith’s favorite tight end has just 30 receptions on the season and only five receptions over his past five games. Smith can remain on waiver wires ahead of the Steelers’ Week 15 game against the Dolphins.

Smith saw five of the 15 targets that went to Steelers tight ends on Sunday, but provided the least production. The veteran tight end continues to disappoint fantasy managers and has yet to top 28 receiving yards in any game this season. Smith won’t be on the fantasy radar in Week 10 against the Chargers.

Smith saw sparse usage throughout as the team continued its four-man rotation at tight end. He narrowly missed connecting with quarterback Aaron Rodgers on a deep seam in the fourth quarter that could have padded his counting stats for fantasy managers, but the ball fell to the turf just out of the sprawling reach of the veteran tight end. Smith remains off fantasy radars in all but the deepest formats.

Both the six-target effort and score were Smith’s first since Week 1, while he was the No. 2 producing tight end behind Pat Freiermuth, who turned his six looks into 5/111/2. Improbably, Darnell Washington also found the end zone. That’s the long way of saying no Steelers tight end is producing consistently enough to merit a real TE2 look ahead of Week 8 against the Packers.

It’s another forgettable week for Smith, who hasn’t gone for more than 27 receiving yards in any game this season. Perhaps more surprisingly is the fact that Smith was outperformed by tight end Darnell Washington in this one, as Washington opened the day with a 36-yard reception on the first play of the game, and ended with a 3-62-0 line on five targets. Fantasy managers can continue fading Smith until he starts turning out more reliable production — which may not happen at this point.

Smith’s production has steadily declined over the first month of the season. He caught five passes in Week 1 and that number has fallen in every subsequent game. Darnell Washington led the team’s tight ends with three catches. With a bye week on tap for the Steelers, fantasy managers don’t need to hang on to Smith any longer.

Smith missed Wednesday’s practice but was upgraded to two limited sessions before being listed as questionable. He has at least three catches in every game this year but no more than 27 receiving yards. Smith is barely clinging to TE2 relevance in his current role.

Smith was a DNP on Wednesday but logged limited practices on back-to-back days to close out the week. The veteran tight end has been unreliable for fantasy managers in each of his last two games, totaling seven catches for 50 scoreless yards over that span. Even if he’s active, there’s little reason to start him in your lineups this week.

Jonnu Smith got the same treatment, with NIR/Hip on a limited session as well. We doubt these are anything serious based on the NIR tag, but we’ll go through the rigamarole just in case — if Warren were to sit in Week 4, Kenny Gainwell would be a solid volume-based RB3/FLEX play against a tough Vikings defense.