Aaron Rodgers denies Chris Collinsworth’s claim about Steelers’ tight end

During the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Sunday night loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the NBC broadcast team of Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth was talking up tight end Darnell Washington, just like every other booth has this season.

There’s plenty to talk about with a tight end of his stature becoming a prominent fixture in the Steelers’ passing game. However, Collinsworth said something during the game that might have caught Steelers fans off guard.

Collinsworth suggested during the game that Aaron Rodgers stopped the team from moving Washington to tackle outright this offseason after joining the team, a claim Rodgers put to rest during a Wednesday media scrum, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pyror.

Clarification emerges after broadcast note on Darnell Washington’s potential position change

Collinsworth insinuated from his production meeting with Rodgers that the team was considering moving the 6’7”, 300+ pound tight end to tackle this offseason and that Rodgers wouldn’t let them. Pryor asked Rodgers about it, and he said to his recollection, that’s not exactly how it went down.

Of course, Rodgers has been open in his praise of Washington since he signed with the team. While he may not have had to actually persuade the team not to move Washington to tackle this offseason, he obviously had some amount of influence to get Washington more involved in the offense. 

To be clear, there have been discussions and speculation about Washington eventually moving to tackle given his size and blocking prowess, but there was never an indication from the team this offseason that it was entertained to happen this year.

It’s a fine idea down the road, but whether it’s correlation or causation, Steelers fans want to see Washington engaged in the passing offense as a receiver before he ever becomes strictly a blocker because of the impact he’s had on the offense this season.

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Washington has just 14 catches for 142 yards and a score this season, which are nearing or match his career highs from a season ago. Still, when he’s on the field, good things happen for the Steelers offense, and when he’s not, things tend not to work out quite as well.

Still, Washington was a third-round pick entering his third season with light production in his first two seasons as a receiver. Even with two veteran tight ends ahead of him on the depth chart, 2025 was always going to be a make-or-break type of year for the behemoth tight end. Luckily, he’s taken advantage of his opportunities and begun to blossom into a fan favorite in Pittsburgh.

He’ll still be a fan favorite if he ever does move to tackle, but hopefully, Steelers fans get a few more years of watching one of the NFL’s rarest unicorns continue to shock the league with his pass-catching abilities before that happens.