Copyright Heavy.
The Pittsburgh Steelers need a win in Week 9 to end a two-game losing streak and avoid falling to the .500 mark. The Steelers, though, have a difficult matchup in front of them with the No. 1 offense from the Indianapolis Colts coming to Acrisure Stadium. A big reason why the Colts have been elite offensively to begin this season is rookie tight end Tyler Warren. The No. 14 overall pick from the 2025 NFL Draft leads Indianapolis in receiving yards and is second in catches. Warren and Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth overlapped for one season in 2020 at Penn State. With their first NFL meeting coming on November 2, Freiermuth took time this week in an exclusive interview with Heavy Sports to reflect on his relationship with Warren. “Tyler’s a great guy. I hosted him on his official visit [to Penn State]. He was a freshman in my last year there. I’m really proud of him by the way he handled his situation,” Freiermuth said Tuesday. “He redshirted, and he didn’t really get much playing time his second year because we had Brent Strange and Theo [Johnson] ahead of him. “But he came back for his fifth year.” While waiting for a bigger opportunity, Warren had 49 catches, 606 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his first 40 games at Penn State. During his final campaign with the Nittany Lions, Warren had 104 receptions, 1,233 receiving yards and eight scores in 16 contests. “[I’m] Super fortunate that I’m able to play him in his rookie year and go against him.” Former Penn State TEs Pat Freiermuth, Tyler Warren to Meet in Week 9 NFL Showdown It’s ironic Freiermuth addressed the Colts rookie tight end’s selflessness with Heavy Sports this week. Freiermuth has put team ahead of individual accomplishments for the Steelers this season. Freiermuth has seen his playing time decline due to the emergence of Darnell Washington. The Steelers have used Washington and a sixth offensive lineman to generate a better running game the past month. Fittingly, Freiermuth admires how Warren did something similar during his Penn State career. “A lot of times now in this day and age of college football, guys hit adversity, and they want to transfer and find a new school,” said Freiermuth. “But he did it the respectful way of staying and grinding it out and being able to look back at his accomplishments and seeing his growth. It’s been super cool to see.” Warren hasn’t done a lot of waiting for opportunities with the Colts. Indianapolis made him a big part of its offensive philosophy the day he arrived. It’s yielded major results for the Colts. Warren has posted at least 50 receiving yards in six of eight games this year. Warren has also scored three touchdowns in the past four contests. Freiermuth hasn’t been as busy in 2025. But thanks to an impressive performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7, Freiermuth is second for the Steelers with 200 receiving yards. Freiermuth Set to Recruit Warren Again for Blood Drive Donation This season, the Steelers tight end has teamed up with global health leader Abbott and the Big Ten Conference in the second year of “The We Give Blood Drive.” The drive is a competition between Big Ten schools to see who can donate the most blood. The school which has the most donations will receive $1 million from Abbott to advance student and community health initiatives. Freiermuth is encouraging all Big Ten students, faculty and alum to donate. He is especially pushing for Penn State donations to help the Nittany Lions win the competition. Freiermuth said he plans to get Warren to donate to help the cause. “I think that this would be a perfect opportunity to be able to add him to the blood drive list,” Freiermuth said. “We need to give back some blood, so I’ll be able to talk to him at the game about it.” Donations will be accepted through December 5. The Big Ten will announce the winning school at the conference’s championship game on December 6.
