Coming into this season, wide receiver was once again a weakness for the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, there was hope that their depth at tight end would be able to supplement that issue. Through the first few games of the year, that hasn’t been the case. Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith have been quality pass catchers, but they haven’t had much of an impact yet this year. However, after Week 4, analyst Gregg Rosenthal believes that Darnell Washington could be the real breakout star of that group, if used correctly.
“They’ve had the formations,” Rosenthal said recently on his NFL Daily podcast. “I just don’t think they’ve had the right personnel on the field. [Darnell] Washington, being there live, it was really so noticeable how he’s lining up in a completely different spot every time he’s in motion a lot as like a 270-pound guy.
“He’s a fullback, he’s a tight end, he’s offset, he’s everything. And I think he’s an All-Pro type of player, like a Unicorn type of player, if they can maximize him. Today, I think you saw it, and [Pat] Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith were much less big deals.”
Over the first two years of his NFL career, Washington wasn’t much of a receiving threat. He only had 26 catches in two seasons. Going into this year, Washington wanted to prove he could do more as a receiver. Unfortunately, after the Steelers’ first three games, Washington hadn’t recorded a catch. He caught a ball on a two-point conversion, but that isn’t officially recorded as a catch by the NFL.
However, things changed in Week 4. Washington was a much bigger piece of the Steelers’ offense. He played 48 snaps, which was 91-percent of the Steelers’ total offensive snaps. While most of his impact was seen in the Steelers’ run game finding life, he also finally got involved in the pass game, catching three passes for 20 yards.
Compare that to Freiermuth and Smith’s usage in Week 4. Freiermuth played 15 snaps, while Smith played 13. Like Rosenthal says, they were smaller factors than they had been.
Part of that was likely due to the situation the Steelers found themselves in. They had the lead over the Minnesota Vikings for most of the game. Therefore, they ran the ball more, and they had a lot of success in doing that. Washington is a much better blocker than Freiermuth or Smith, which likely explains why he was on the field so much more.
However, the Steelers’ offensive success with Washington shouldn’t be ignored. Could that lead to Washington breaking out and becoming an All-Pro? That’s hard to say. His size makes him a unique weapon. That gives him the potential to become one of the best tight ends in the league. There’s no guarantee that he’ll hit that ceiling, though. He hasn’t shown enough yet. We’ll see if that changes as the year goes on.
