Who Should I Start? Pat Freiermuth or Daniel Bellinger

Monday, January 12, 6:37 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth had very limited fantasy football upside in 2025 while sharing TE duties with both Jonnu Smith and Darnell Washington (forearm). He finished as the TE24 in half-PPR scoring in 16 regular-season games, with 41 catches on 54 targets for 486 yards and four touchdowns. Freiermuth and Smith should have slightly bigger roles going into the playoffs on Wild-Card weekend on Monday night against the Houston Texans with Washington out, but the 27-year-old still isn't an ideal option for fantasy managers in a bad matchup. Freiermuth did finish the regular season strong with six catches on 10 targets for 114 yards in the final two games, but he hasn't scored since Nov. 23. The Texans have the No. 1 defense in the league, and they've allowed only 775 receiving yards (seventh-fewest) and eight TDs all year to the tight end position.

Saturday, November 15, 9:15 AM

New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger (groin) has been cleared from the injury report and is good to go for Sunday's matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Bellinger opened the week with limited practices on Wednesday and Thursday, but was upgraded to a full participant on Friday. The 25-year-old had his highest snap share of the season in the Giants' Week 10 loss at the Chicago Bears at 72.6%, and added one catch for eight yards on two targets. Bellinger has been more involved in the offense of late, playing at least 50% of the snaps in all but one game since Week 5, totaling nine catches for 169 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets. His 18.8 yards per reception during that span is the highest among tight ends with at least 50 routes run. In Weeks 1-4, he played over 30% of the snaps just once with three total receptions. Bellinger will be without rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart (concussion) for this game, but backup Jameis Winston has proven capable over the years. Bellinger is only relevant as a deep league option for Week 11 against the Packers.