PITTSBURGH — When Darnell Washington moves through the Steelers locker room, his 6-foot-7 frame sways with every lumbering step. With rare athleticism for a man with those imposing physical dimensions, he is one of the NFL’s most unique players. Put him in a three-point stance and he looks like an offensive lineman capable of grappling with the AFC North’s best edge rushers. Line him up wide and he can back down smaller defensive backs like a power forward, or bully them after the catch.
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith thinks of the third-year tight end as a wildcard in his offense, a create-a-player from the Madden video game — but in real life.
In that locker room a few weeks ago, a reporter posed a question that many have wondered:
How much do you really weigh?
A gentle giant with an easy smile and good sense of humor, Washington laughed off the question. The Steelers list him at a — clearly erroneous — 264 pounds.
Come on, the scale is right here. Just step on — real quick.
Again, the only response was a hearty chuckle.
Many tried, but getting an answer to that question proved more difficult than trying to tackle Washington in the open field. That 264 pounds was his weight at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
Why not update it?
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Washington said. “I’m just like you. I see it, just keep on about my day and laugh at it.”
Well, how close to 264 are you?
“How close? Honestly, I don’t know.”
The first indication that Washington is even bigger than his listed dimensions came last year. Tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts was detailing all the ways his tight end could be used in the offense when he accidentally let it slip.
“He gives you that added dimension because he is athletic,” Roberts said. “You don’t expect a guy to be 6-7 and 300-plus — oh, I said that out loud.”
During the Steelers’ Week 7 Thursday night game against the Bengals, the Amazon broadcast listed him as “300+” pounds. But if you were looking for an exact number, well, that information was guarded as tightly as a weekly gameplan.
“It’s no secret,” Washington said. “I truly just don’t know.”
Or does he?
When Washington was coming out of Georgia, the Steelers weren’t necessarily in the market for a tight end. Intrigued by his potential, the team hosted him for a pre-draft visit, the only tight end in that cycle to visit. When Washington slipped to the third round, the Steelers took him; the hope was that he would help slow Myles Garrett and the other dominant 4-3 defensive ends in the division.
From the moment Washington entered the league, he’s been the dominant in-line blocker the team imagined. During his first training camp, Washington proved himself by holding his own against T.J. Watt in one-on-one reps. This year during the ‘backs-on-‘backers drill, Washington stood up another edge rusher.
“Not bad for a tackle,” one teammate chirped.
“Pay me like it then,” Washington quipped back.
The Steelers have highlighted Washington’s physicality even more so this season by lining him up next to extra offensive lineman Spencer Anderson in their jumbo packages. When a tackle (like Broderick Jones on the left side, or Troy Fautanu on the right), Washington and Anderson line up shoulder-to-shoulder, the Steelers have three 300-plus pound humans on the same side of the formation.
“I think it was a George Young quote about the Franco Harris debate that’s in Chuck Noll’s book,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “He said, this was settled 2000 years ago when Alexander the Great came riding in on elephants. That’s kind of what it looks like. You put the tackle over, you’ve got 1,000 pounds over there.”
This season, Aaron Rodgers has helped unlock another dimension. The veteran quarterback was immediately intrigued by Washington’s physical dimensions; he often likened Washington to former teammate Mercedes Lewis, who was listed a 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. With Rodgers behind center and Smith calling the plays, Washington has caught 18 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. With seven games to go, he already has more receiving yards than last season, and he’s one reception short of last year’s total.
D.J. Turner II was one of three Bengals defenders to feel the brunt of Darnell Washington during the tight end’s 31-yard catch-and-run on Sunday. (Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
If he looks at times like a grown man playing against children, that’s exactly how he feels, too. When he was a kid growing up in the Las Vegas area, Washington and his friends used to play a game called “Three Flags Up.” The rules are simple: One person throws the ball into the air. Everyone else jumps to try to catch it. First person to catch the ball three times wins.
“Honestly, it just takes me back to the childhood days playing three flags up,” Washington said. “I see someone out there a lot smaller than me, I know what’s coming. I feel like everybody knows what’s coming.”
Knowing what’s coming and stopping it are two different things. During Sunday’s win over the Bengals, Cincinnati’s defense felt the full weight of Washington. One play sums it up best: Washington caught a shallow cross, stiff-armed 231-pound linebacker Barrett Carter to the ground, ran through the arms of 210-pound safety Geno Stone and then finished the play with an exclamation point, bulldozing 185-pound DJ Turner II, knocking the cornerback off his feet.
“They’re getting scared of him, for sure,” Rodgers said with a smile. “They should be.”
On Wednesday, Washington proved a little less elusive. Appearing on St. Brown Podcast, hosted by Detroit Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL wideout Equanimeous St. Brown.
How much do you weigh?
“I ain’t finna cap to y’all. I ain’t weighed myself in a minute, but I know—”
Bro, what do you mean, you got weigh-ins every week!
“Look, there’s no weigh-ins—”
Washington then, literally, ducked off-camera.
Look, he trying to get away!
“O.K., O.K. yeah, I’m gonna keep it a buck. I’m 311.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown (left) and Equanimeous St. Brown (right) finally wore down Darnell Washington (middle) on Wednesday. (via YouTube)
While Washington’s emerging presence in the pass game is new, it’s not necessarily unexpected.
“Some of the freakish things that you see him do in the stadium I saw on Georgia tape,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Some of the freakish things that I’ve seen him do this year, I saw him do last year. He had a unique run after (catch) certainly the other day that kind of ignited our collective offensively and defensively, but he had a similar-type play, I remember, in Indianapolis last year, when we were kind of running in place offensively, and he made a play, and it kind of ignited us.”
“He’s a special athlete. He has unique talents. He’s certainly a tough guy to deal with in one-on-one tackle circumstances. It makes him a force to be reckoned with.”
All 311 pounds of him.
