Contextualization Of TE Darnell Washington’s 2022 Pass Targets At Georgia

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Georgia tight end Darnell Washington in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft last week and on the heels of that happening, I am providing a deep contextualization of his 2022 pass targets to give a better sense of the player he was last season.

The table of contextualized data below should be easy to digest. The last column in the table of data provided includes a link to a video of every play. There were just two plays that I was not able to find a television version to share.

For starters, Washington was targeted 45 times last season in 15 games. He caught 28 of those 45 targets for 454 yards and two touchdowns. One other target that Washington had last season was wiped out by an offensive penalty in the first game of the season.

On the 45 targets that counted last season, Washington registered an aDOT (average depth of target) of 10.38 yards. His aDOC (average depth of completion), however, was 9.32 yards. Washington did quite a bit after the catch in 2022 as 205 of his receiving yards came after him catching the football for an average of 7.07 yards per reception. I have him down for two drops in 2022 on his 45 total targets.

As for as where Washington registered his 45 targets in 2022, 25 came between the numbers with 11 of those coming between the hashmarks in the middle of the field. Twenty others came outside the numbers. Eleven of Washington’s 28 receptions came more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage and seven came more than 15 yards down the field. In total, Washington registered 10 explosive-play receptions — 20 yards or longer in 2022 — with his longest going for 34 yards.

Washington registered 32 targets with fewer than 15 air yards in 2022 and he caught 21 of those. Of his eleven targets with air yards of 15 or longer, Washington caught seven of those.

In total in 2022, Washington registered nine red zone targets. He caught three, with two good for touchdowns. Both of those touchdown receptions came between the numbers.

The main takeaways from Washington’s 2022 targets begin with him being a dependable possession pass catcher near the line of scrimmage. He can occasionally stretch the field vertically but is not a burner. He catches the ball in all areas of the field and works hard to get extra yards after receptions. The tape shows that Washington has a huge catch radius and nice body control. Watch his catch against Kent State. Washington has the ability to deliver occasional explosive plays in the passing game. He is also a great red zone target because of his size.

For a player of Washington’s size, he moves very well in space, and he has some athleticism to go with that. He’s not a very polished route runner just yet but does understand how to find open areas of the field. He’s very tough to bring down after the catch due to his size.

2022 Darnell Washington Pass Targets Contextualized In Order