Like Darnell Washington, the Pittsburgh Steelers are right where we are: sitting at home being mad. Although they managed to make the playoffs in 2023, they lost in the first round. It has now been seven years without a postseason victory, the longest drought in franchise history. The question is what to do next.
The first step is always taking stock of what happened and what is left. That’s part of the exit meeting process, in which coaches meet with each player. They discuss the season and their expectations moving forward—and potentially their role within it.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2023 season.
Player: Darnell Washington
Position: Tight End
Experience: 1 Year
What is Darnell Washington’s future? If you listen to the beat writers, he is designated for nothing more than the Matt Spaeth path. That is to say, he is the Steelers’ blocking tight end, even if he is (or can develop into) a good one. Steelers fans harbored greater ambitions for him as a receiving threat, but will those seeds bear fruit?
Washington flashed his hands during the offseason, going back to the NFL Scouting Combine, but he has limited athletic upside. A lot of that reportedly had to do with the state of his knees. Reports during the 2023 NFL Draft indicated that he fell due to teams’ concerns about his knees.
The Steelers only targeted Washington 10 times last season. He caught seven passes for 61 yards, four of which produced first downs. And yet he played a whopping 511 snaps during the year, an indication of how much blocking he did. They targeted him twice in the red zone, both times against New England. One of those passes came from Connor Heyward, which never reached him. He caught the other one for 12 yards from the 20.
But I shouldn’t spend all this time talking about his potential as a receiving threat. There’s nothing wrong with him being a blocker as his primary job. He has to keep growing there—strictly metaphorically, though. At 6-7, his height is actually a disadvantage that showed up on tape last year. He struggled with leverage because defenders can easily get under him.
But he also had his share of highlight blocks, pancakes, waffles, some with chocolate chips, some with sprinkles. It’s all delicious. Importantly, he fully embraces that aspect of the game. While he’ll tell you that he wants to get the ball more, just as much he wants to continue to lay defenders out with a dominating block. He did enough of that during his rookie season to look forward to his second-year progress.
