{"id":17229,"date":"2025-05-02T06:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T06:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/17229\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T06:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T06:27:10","slug":"i-think-its-going-to-create-competition-beat-writer-thinks-udfa-te-jj-galbreath-could-earn-roster-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/17229\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I Think It’s Going To Create Competition:’ Beat Writer Thinks UDFA TE JJ Galbreath Could Earn Roster Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers brought in one of their better undrafted free agent classes in recent memory, and one of their more intriguing additions was South Dakota TE JJ Galbreath. A move tight end, Galbreath brings a lot of upside as a receiver, and while appearing on The Pomp And Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan<\/a>, Mike DeFabo of The Athletic said that Galbreath could push for a roster spot with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got some athleticism, and we know that Arthur Smith loves the tight end position, so I think that\u2019s going to be an interesting camp battle,\u201d DeFabo said Thursday. \u201cBecause obviously, Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington are going to make the team at tight end. But they\u2019re very different type of tight end. JJ Galbreath is more the form of Pat Freiermuth, where he\u2019s not especially big and strong, but he\u2019s athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to create a competition. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s out of the realm of possibilities that guys like Connor Heyward, even though he has special teams value and versatility at fullback, he could be in competition with JJ Galbreath.\u201d<\/p>\n

As DeFabo said, outside of Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, there are spots up for grabs in Pittsburgh\u2019s tight end room. Connor Heyward wasn\u2019t utilized much in the passing game last season with just six receptions, and the team also signed TE Donald Parham Jr., who spent 2024 on Denver\u2019s practice squad after four seasons with the Chargers. Galbreath\u2019s skill set could set him apart, as he would give the Steelers another receiving threat at tight end and someone who could be a versatile backup.<\/p>\n

Galbreath is also going to have to prove that he can provide some value on special teams to claim a roster spot as a third tight end. While he might offer more offensive upside than Heyward, Heyward has established value on special teams, and it\u2019s hard to be a backup for the Steelers and not be able to contribute as a special teamer.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a lot of intrigue with JJ Galbreath, whom we compared to former Ravens TE Dennis Pitta<\/a> in a pre-draft scouting report. He could give the Steelers\u2019 offense a different element with potentially two reliable pass catchers at the position, and while Washington took a step forward as a receiver last season, he\u2019s still on the roster for his blocking ability more than anything. Galbreath could give the Steelers someone else who could help create mismatches and even if he doesn\u2019t have a huge role as a rookie, he\u2019s someone who has room to grow.<\/p>\n

The tight end battle will be one of the more intriguing ones to watch in camp, as all of Heyward, Galbreath and Parham have a legitimate chance to make the roster, and all provide something a little bit different for the Steelers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers brought in one of their better undrafted free agent classes in recent memory, and one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[8740,7,8881,8882,6,520,57,2360,426,8883],"class_list":{"0":"post-17229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-93-7-the-fan","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jj-galbreath","11":"tag-mike-defabo","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-the-pomp-and-joe-show"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114436823406015306","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}