Steelers Now
One of the Pittsburgh Steelers unrecognized position groups continues to trend in the right direction.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have drastically improved their roster this offseason with several additions in free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft. However, one of their position groups that has mostly lost talent is starting to earn some praise around the league.
Jacob Infante of Yahoo Sports ranks the Steelers tight end room as the fifth best in the NFL.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers had the second-highest 13 personnel rate in the NFL in 2025, and looking at their tight end room, it makes a lot of sense as to why,” Infante wrote. “Jonnu Smith is gone, but their top two tight ends, Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, both return heading into 2026. Both ranked in the top 20 in PFN TE Impact Scoring, making the Steelers one of two teams with two tight ends to rank in the top 20 in the league last year.”
The Steelers don’t have any of the top-regarded tight ends in the NFL, but their room complements each other very well.
Freiermuth has proven to be a true weapon when his name has been called, recording 261 catches for 2,676 yards and 22 touchdowns since he entered the league as a second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Washington, on the other hand, has been arguably the best blocking tight end in the league, standing at 6-foot-7 and over 300 pounds.
He also set career highs last season with 43 targets, 31 receptions, 364 yards and one touchdown, an average of 8.5 yards per target and 11.7 yards per touch.
So, the Steelers decided to lock him up for the foreseeable future with a four-year deal earlier this month.
After Freiermuth and Washington, the room becomes quite underwhelming, but the Steelers helped round it out with the additions of rookie Riley Nowakowski and veteran Robert Tonyan, who played with quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Unheralded Position Group Earns Top-Five Ranking
