Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: TE Darnell Washington
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: With the Steelers keeping only three tight ends, and one of those being Connor Heyward, there is no ambiguity in the team’s intention to play rookie Darnell Washington significant snaps very early in his career.
Remember that early training camp speculation about the possibility that rookie third-round TE Darnell Washington could begin the year as a healthy scratch? Well, we can safely say that that is not going to happen—at least, I’m pretty comfortable making that projection at this point.
That is what the team signified when making the decision to release fourth-year veteran TE Zach Gentry, who had spent the last two seasons as their primary blocker. If they were concerned about Washington’s ability to contribute immediately, they presumably would have retained Gentry.
Because they don’t want Pat Freiermuth to spend too much of his time blocking, and Connor Heyward is not capable of being a traditional blocking tight end because he lacks the frame to match up against defensive linemen as an in-line blocker.
So who else is left to do it but Washington? Yes, they could use a tackle-eligible option like Broderick Jones, his fellow rookie college teammate from Georgia, but is Jones any more ready to play than Washington is right now?
No, what we have heard from the coaching staff about the young tight end has been almost universally positive. Indeed, it has been frequently stated that they are particularly pleased with how far along he is as a receiver—beyond their expectations for where he would be.
Now I don’t know what that is going to mean in terms of translating into playing time and all that, but it seems pretty clear at this point that the Steelers are comfortable putting him on the field. It remains to be seen how extensively they intend to use multiple tight ends, however.
After all, they have at least four wide receivers that they want to get on the field, including Calvin Austin III, who impressed this offseason after missing his rookie year due to a foot injury. But even if they struggle to find Washington snaps, it’s hard to imagine any reasonable scenario in which he is not dressing for games while healthy.
