Paging Darnell Washington. Darnell Washington to the offense.
I know it’s asking a lot for Pittsburgh Steelers coordinator Matt Canada to incorporate a new wrinkle into an offense he’s already struggling to manage. But with Pat Freiermuth sidelined for a while, it’s time to get the rook involved.
He’s Pittsburgh’s only true tight end who’s played in an NFL game. Connor Heyward is a great gadget player and showed flashes in 2022, but Washington is strictly a tight end who has the talent (and desire) to block out the wazoo. And his towering 6-foot-7 stature should have Kenny Pickett drooling.
As a pass blocker, Washington’s PFF grade is 77.1. 53.0 run-blocking isn’t as favorable, but nothing with the run game is really clicking for Pittsburgh right now.
So far, Washington’s started four games — the L.A. Rams not being one of them — and has only logged one catch on three targets for 10 yards (PFF indicates two of the throws not brought in weren’t catchable). Against the Ravens, he played 70 percent of offensive snaps and only 53 percent in Los Angeles.
I get it. Mike Tomlin brings rookies along slowly (eye roll). But there are three more games until Freiermuth should return to practice, and even then, there’s a 21-day window that might be used until he plays again. Hamstrings are finicky — as we saw when he attempted to return for Week 7.
It’s times like these that Tomlin needs to forget about being stubborn for the sake of getting the offense churning at a consistent rate. Get Darnell Washington going. Steelers fans are eager to see what he can do.
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