Scouts have had plenty to say about the Steelers’ draft picks in the weeks since the NFL draft. But what do those who’ve watched them closest think of their fit with their new team? The Post-Gazette is finding out with questions for beat writers who covered each pick in college.
Today, Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara gives us the scoop on third-round pick Darnell Washington.
Already, Steelers fans are debating whether this guy will be the next Rob Gronkowski or whether he's going to play more of a classic tight end role in Pittsburgh. Where do you think he falls on that spectrum?
I land somewhere in between. I don’t think he’s going to be the next Gronk unless he really makes steps as a route-runner. I don’t know that he’ll be asked to do that in Pittsburgh’s offense. At the same time, I don’t buy the notion that he’s more of a classic tight end who’ll be used simply as a run-blocker even though he’s mainly lining up inline. Don’t get it twisted. He’s essentially an extra offensive tackle. The guy is an absolute force in the ground game, and you can tell he’s totally bought in on that side of it. But he was never the best tight end on his own team in college because he spent the last two years with Brock Bowers. He’s going into a situation wherein Matt Canada would be foolish not to take a page out of the Todd Monken playbook (now the Ravens offensive coordinator) and use Washington in tons of 12-personnel sets.
"Sloppy" is the word NFL.com scout Lance Zierlein used to describe his technique as a blocker. But he wrote that Washington has all the tools to be a great run blocker eventually. How much work is between here and there? And does Washington have the makeup to do it?
He might be “sloppy,” but when you’re Washington’s unique size, you can still be pretty darn good. I believe Washington is already an exceptional run blocker and it’s what gives him such a high floor. I do believe that Washington has the right makeup for that because if he wasn’t totally bought into that part of the game, he would’ve left Georgia last year to be featured more prominently in the passing game instead of being second fiddle to Bowers.
Is there any element of his game that you think could explain his fall to No. 93 overall other than a medical/knee issue?
I was somewhat baffled at that because nobody who had covered the team had heard about a medical issue until right before the start of the second round. I believe that seven tight ends being drafted ahead of Washington is somewhat insane. Sure, he’s got to show he can be a bit more precise in his route-running and he’s probably not going to win a ton of those 1-on-1 battles as a pass-catcher. Yet. But I think some teams were scared off by the notion that he never really took off as a receiver. He flashed some freakish open-field ability. You don’t want to have to take that guy down if he gets the ball in the flat. He can run over you with a hurdle or a truck stick. Perhaps he’s a bit more scheme-dependent than guys like Dalton Kincaid or Michael Mayer, but you can’t tell me that Washington will end up being the eighth-best tight end in this class.
Like the Steelers, Georgia has a lot of talent in the tight end room, with Bowers at the top of the list. How did those two complement each other in Athens? And what do you think that says about the future relationship with Pat Freiermuth?
It’s actually a great fit. The casual fan should already know Bowers, but what they might not know is that Washington played nearly 700 snaps with 40% of them coming as a receiver. That’s the beauty of Monken’s offense and the 12 personnel that Georgia embraced. Washington was an unselfish key contributor for a 15-0 Georgia team that did all the little things well. Washington loves the dirty work. He’s a punishing run blocker and he takes great pride in blocking downfield (legally), and he doesn’t check out of a game if he only gets targeted twice. It’s an excellent complement to Freiermuth, even if the raw numbers don’t ever yield Pro Bowl upside.
How do you think his body will hold up to the abuse of the AFC North? He's probably going to take a beating.
I get that sentiment with the knee concerns. But ask anyone — and I mean anyone — about the first time they stood next to Washington. He’s a unicorn. I’ve never seen anything like it at the college level, and even in the NFL, you’d be hard-pressed to see anyone towering at a chiseled 6-foot-7, 265 pounds. The fact that he is savvy enough to hurdle guys in the open field tells you about his mindset. He’ll take on contact with that frame, but he’s athletic enough to avoid it in those spots. Washington’s frame stood out at the five-star factory that is Georgia, which is next to impossible to do. As long as those knee issues aren’t a potentially career-ending deal, he seems like he was built out of a lab to play in the AFC North.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: May 11, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: May 11, 2023, 2:40 p.m.