If you attend any training camp practices in Latrobe this season, one player will quite literally stand out head and shoulders above the rest of the team. Second-year tight end Darnell Washington is looking to make his presence felt in this offense, which hopefully should be a lot more prolific than it was during his rookie year.
New QB Russell Wilson has already taken notice of Washington and shared these thoughts regarding seeing him at training camp for the first time in an interview provided by the team.
“I’m excited to see Big Darnell Washington,” Wilson said. “The guy’s how big? He looks like he’s six-nine. He looks like he should be playing for the USA men’s basketball team. He’s just a freak athlete, so we wanna get him in the ball too. It’s just a plethora of guys that can make plays.”
While Darnell Washington wasn’t drafted to be a receiving threat, it still feels like he has a lot more potential in that realm than the seven catches and zero touchdowns he posted in 2023.
A lot of it starts with him just getting on the field. While Arthur Smith has used multiple tight ends in the past, he would have to leapfrog Connor Heyward on the depth chart to get time next to Pat Freiermuth. This might happen on running-downs, but getting on the field for obvious passing-downs will be an uphill battle.
One thing he could have going for him, at least, is Russell Wilson’s support. We have seen bigger, athletic guys like Luke Willson and Adam Trautman have had success with him in the past. They weren’t near the top of the league leaders in receiving or anything, but they both had seasons with Wilson that Darnell Washington truthers would probably consider successful.
Washington is such a unique potential weapon, but that’s all it’s been so far: potential. He feels like the type of player that smart offenses figure out how to use effectively. His size and athleticism are so strong that there’s at least hope that you can scheme around his weaknesses.
Last year, the Steelers were anything but a smart offense, but the hope is that changes under the leadership of Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson. The two of them need to find a way to get weapons like Washington involved early and often. Pittsburgh doesn’t exactly have a ton of proven skill position guys, so if they want to be successful, they’ll need to rely on the development of highly skilled yet unproven players like Washington.
