Washington
One Step To Take: How TE Darnell Washington Can Improve
I’m bringing back a series I had a lot of fun exploring during the past several offseasons. Every player wants to improve and elevate his game in all areas from one season to the next. Understanding that, we’re going to isolate just one area, one faction of a player’s game where the biggest improvement can be made.
Darnell Washington – Improve Snap Timing
Darnell Washington has a chance to make a big impact in 2024. He’s a second-year player, an unrefined tight end more raw than thought of coming out of Georgia’s pro-style system. Tight end is a notoriously tough position for rookies to make an immediate impact, and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith craves a blocking tight end like him. Washington should see red zone targets this year and almost certainly score his first touchdown, or four.
In 2023, Washington flashed as a blocker. When he had the angle and leverage on a defender to seal or wash him down, he looked dominant. But on straight-up base blocks, he struggled. No matter what the blocking scheme calls for, Washington must fire off the ball quicker. Too often, he was late out of his stance. In the NFL, it doesn’t matter how big or long you are if you can’t time the snap.
Just one example of it last year against the Cleveland Browns. Washington is late off the ball and the LDE is able to slant into the C gap and blow this play up, tackling RB Najee Harris for a loss.
There’s no question playing on the road like the above clip makes life tougher. Teams use silent counts, Washington is further away from center, the defenders have direct eyes and can better key the ball. But he’s gotta get off the line. It’s not like he’s a naturally explosive player, so any delay hurts him even more.
His size and length can help to an extent, but if the defender is halfway through the gap by the time Washington makes contact, he’s lost the rep. That’s stuff you can get away with in college, not the NFL.
While I’m excited by what Washington could offer as a receiver this year, his primary role remains as a blocker. He has the potential to become a dominant one, but snap timing will define how close he’ll come to that. This is a must for him to have a successful career.
Trinity Rodman signs record deal with Washington Spirit
USWNT forward Trinity Rodman signed a three-year deal with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. The deal makes Rodman the highest-paid female footballer in the world.
unbranded – Sport
Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.
The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.
Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.
Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.
Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.
Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).
The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.
The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.
Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.
The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.
YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.
The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.
The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.
The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.
The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.
Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.
Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.
That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.
And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.
“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”
The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.
But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.
He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”
Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.
At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.
Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.
It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.
So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?
“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”
“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”
Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.
That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.
How the federal government is painting immigrants as criminals on social media
Newsom staffer who told California reporter to ‘f— off’ is raking in massive taxpayer-funded salary
Walz slams Trump admin for temporarily halting Medicaid funding to Minnesota: ‘Campaign of retribution’
Trump introduces Cornyn, Paxton but stays mum on endorsement in heated GOP primary
Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
How the federal government is painting immigrants as criminals on social media
Where Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach — and how close they are to the US
Has India’s influence in Afghanistan grown under the Taliban?
Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links
Read Judge Schiltz’s Order
-
World2 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Louisiana5 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Oklahoma1 week agoWildfires rage in Oklahoma as thousands urged to evacuate a small city
-
Denver, CO2 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology7 days agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology6 days agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making