It was hard not to be intrigued when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected University of Georgia TE Darnell Washington during the 2023 NFL Draft. After all, how can you not want to see a mountain of a man (6-7, 264 pounds) play tight end?
However, we only got glimpses of Washington’s potential in 2023. We saw his ability as a blocker, but he was only targeted 10 times in 17 games last season. He did haul in seven of those pass attempts for 61 yards, but it wasn’t much to go on.
In 2024 under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, Washington has already been targeted more (11) in seven games. He’s pulled in 10 catches for 91 yards and his first career touchdown. And with each pass thrown his way, he’s getting better.
“It builds my confidence, each time I get the ball in my hands,” Washington said after practice on Friday per video from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Just getting more comfortable with it, you know, because at this level, I really didn’t have that many opportunities in that scenarios. So I feel like each catch, it just keep[s] building my confidence as a person with the ball in the hand and run after.”
It’s no surprise that Washington and his fellow tight ends are getting more run under Smith. It’s been one of his calling cards as an offensive coordinator and a head coach. And not only has Washington already exceeded his rookie year’s stats, Pat Freiermuth is off to a quality start under Smith as well. He’s already equaled his touchdown totals (two) from each of the last two seasons. And he has posted the second-most yards per catch of his career (10.2).
But we expected Freiermuth to be in line for a big 2024. Not many expected that from Washington. We didn’t see it in 2023, and we never really saw it at Georgia, either. The most receptions Washington had in college was 28 in his final season. He also only had two touchdowns that year, a career-high.
So quite frankly, Washington as a receiving option was always more of a projection than a certainty. And nothing happened in 2023 under former offensive coordinator Matt Canada (or the interim duo of Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan) to change that.
But that might just be playing into Smith and Washington’s hands.
“Most people haven’t seen what I could do with the ball, according to last year,” Washington said. “And I feel like so far, they’re starting to see a little bit more. Like, ‘Okay, he got this in his game, or he could do this, things like that. So watch out for that.'”
And boy did we get a taste of what Washington can do with the ball in his hands earlier this season. On one play against the Indianapolis Colts, Washington showed his unique combination of strength and agility by stiff-arming LB E.J. Speed and then hurdling S Nick Cross for a 20-yard gain.
Darnell Washington with the stiff arm AND the hurdle!
📺: #PITvsIND on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/LPVP4kNlp3— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024
It caught everyone off guard in the moment, including Speed and his fellow Colts defenders. It gave us a glimpse of just what Washington can bring to the offense as a receiver. And you certainly have got to have the confidence in your own ability to be hurdling defenders in the open field.
But it’s actually not the first time Washington’s done this. He did it on an eerily similar play his final year at Georgia, too. The only difference is that he didn’t stiff-arm the first defender; he just pulled out of the tackle attempt.
Georgia’s Darnell Washington is hurdling defenders at 6’7″ 270lb 🤯@ESPNCFB | @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/f3OEQ6aErj
— ESPN (@espn) September 4, 2022
Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for the Steelers and Darnell Washington. It seems like his offensive coordinator has belief in him and wants to utilize him in the passing game. Like Washington, that’s huge.
