Steelers Now
UNITY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Steelers have an over-abundance of talent at the tight end position after trading for Jonnu Smith, adding him to Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward in a position group so deep that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has designed plays with all four of them on the field at the same time.
The amount of talent at that position — and some struggles at tackle — have some Steelers fans clamoring for the idea of moving Washington from over one spot, from tight end to tackle.
The Georgia product, who played at over 300 pounds last year, is a gigantic tight end. Visually, he looks bigger than Steelers left tackle Broderick Jones, who has slimmed down even further ahead of this season.
But that doesn’t mean that moving Washington to tackle is a good idea.
A lot of the line of thinking for such a move comes from the idea that Washington is being wasted as purely a blocker at the tight end position. But that simply isn’t the case.
A shaky offensive line absolutely needs a player like Washington to help anchor the unit, keep a quarterback clean, and help in the running game. In a division with the likes of Myles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson, who do you want chipping or doubling an elite edge rusher, Washington or Freiermuth? That’s a no brainer. Washington next to Jones is a heck of a lot better than Jonnu Smith or Freiermuth next to Washington.
Washington also simply isn’t a good enough blocker to play offensive line right now. He will always have to deal with a high pad level, and he doesn’t bend all that well. Despite him usually having an enormous size advantage, he doesn’t finish blocks with players on their backs like he could. Could he develop those traits one day? Probably, if he worked at it. But he’d be about the fifth-best tackle on the Steelers roster right now.
The Steelers also don’t need to throw the ball to Washington a lot more than they have to justify his presence in the lineup at tight end. A good blocking tight end is plenty valuable in its own right.
Josh Oliver was targeted 12 times by the Minnesota Vikings last season. He signed a three-year $23.25 million contract extension this offseason. John Bates was targeted 13 times by the Washington Commanders last season. He signed a three-year, $21 million contract this offseason.
Comparatively, with 25 targets last year, Washington was used a ton. And even with a million targets, Washington would never be receiving threat on the level of Freiermuth or Smith.
Could the Steelers find him some more work in the red zone, where he Mossed Miles Killebrew in a goal line drill on Monday? Absolutely. And that’s part of the reason Arthur Smith has been toying with so many multi-tight end packages.
Could the Steelers get him a couple of reps outside to gain some comfort level in using him...
