Pat Freiermuth, George Pickens appear on Top 101 players list

The Steelers seem to be getting more and more national attention as the NFL regular season creeps closer and closer.

Two players, in particular, have garnered the respect of USA Today’s Doug Farrar, who began the release of his 101 best players list and featured tight end Pat Freiermuth at No. 89 and wide receiver George Pickens at No. 81.

When talking about Freiermuth, Farrar called the tight end from Penn State a “Big play machine” and also noted that he “Has an instinctive understanding of how to open up zones.”

On Pickens, Farrar really put over Pickens’ impact on the offense.

“...throughout last season, the only thing that really scared anybody about that passing game was the specter of rookie George Pickens... nuking this or that poor cornerback on a go route from the outside left or outside right.”

For reference, neither players were featured on the largely-mocked NFL Top 100 Players of 2023 list. In an offense that looked unstoppable in the preseason, both Freiermuth and Pickens looked poised to back up their high-praise.