Great frigates and the battlecruiser idea

Did frigates grow large enough to supplant 50-gun ships of the line as long-range cruisers and escorts?

Yes, the heavy end of the frigate spectrum could overlap with fourth rates and embodied the later battlecruiser logic.

HMS Newcastle and other great frigates show that frigates were not always small ships. Newcastle began as a 44-gun fourth rate in 1653, carried 54 guns by 1677, and remained in service until she wrecked in 1703. A crew of roughly 500 further separates this heavy end of the type from a light cruising craft. Such frigates could form in the line if needed, yet were valued because they could outrun stronger ships and overpower weaker ones. The same logic later became associated with battlecruisers, making the concept much older than the name.