Though Mike Tomlin said Wednesday all healthy Pittsburgh Steelers will play in the team’s preseason opener, should Minkah Fitzpatrick see the field, it’ll only be for a handful of snaps. Most of his time in Tampa Bay tomorrow night will be observing from the sidelines. Speaking to reporters yesterday, he said there are two Steelers he’s most excited to check out when Pittsburgh’s offense is on the field.
“I want to see KG [Kendrick Green] at that fullback position, for sure,” he said via Steelers.com. “And I want to see Darnell Washington on the fade ball in the red zone, because he’s been doing his thing the last few days.”
Green playing fullback/H-back has been the story of the last week. Though far from the most consequential element to the Steelers’ 2023 success, Pittsburgh began toying with the idea during their Friday Night Lights practice. Green immediately had success, blowing up rookie EDGE rusher Toby Ndukwe on back-to-back plays, one reception where he lowered the shoulder into him and a run play where Green pancaked Ndukwe into the ground.
Green has been used there every day since, catching a pass in the flat the following day, running over and spinning off an attempted tackle by LB Tanner Muse, and gaining more than 10 yards. Though he hasn’t been perfect, given its overall success, Green figures to play a handful of snaps in the backfield of tomorrow’s preseason opener. Exciting as that is, most of his snaps in the game will still come at center, and he’ll need to play well there to boost his odds of sticking on the 53-man roster. Throughout camp, Green continues to show the same issues dealing with speed and finesse rushes that attack the edges.
Since the pads have come on, Washington’s play has picked up. After a quiet start, no Steeler had found the end zone more often than he has, leading all players in touchdowns this camp. As Fitzpatrick alluded to, the red zone fade has been tough for Pittsburgh’s defense to stop, Washington skying over S Miles Killebrew in seven shots for a score and doing similar days later to another Steelers defender. The defense finally made a play yesterday with James Pierre tipping away a jump ball.
Wednesday, Fitzpatrick got a first-hand look at what Washington can do in the passing game. In a 7v7 session, Washington jumped over Fitzpatrick to haul in a pass down the seam. Granted, Fitzpatrick was in a non-tackling session and probably not going all-out to stop the play, but it was still an impressive moment to see Washington so easily make a grab on the league’s top safety.
What he can offer as a blocker in this game will be just as important as what he can do as a receiver. In camp, Washington’s technique has run hot and cold and despite his massive frame, he can fall off blocks too quickly. The encouraging news is that he has improved and his size is an obvious asset, able to seal and wash down defenders in the run game.
The first of the team’s three preseason games kicks off tomorrow night at 7 PM EST in Tampa against the Buccaneers.
