6 players with concerningly slow starts at Steelers training camp

A hyped up rookie for the Steelers has not been playing well to start off

One of the bigger disappointments heading into padded practices has been Darnell Washington. There has been a ton of media coverage on the rookie out of Georgia as many thought he could have gone anywhere from later in the first round to the early part of the second round. The Steelers decided to gamble and took him toward the end of the third round.

Ever since Washington was selected. many have thought he would plug right behind Pat Freiermuth as the second tight end option. That has not been the case as Zach Gentry will likely retain that spot to start the season. That could always change if Washington finds different courses of action to turn around some of his poor performances in practice.

With a loaded tight end room and Connor Heyward finding different snaps at different positions, it will take a lot for Washington to gain snaps on offense. He is known as a good blocker coming out of college and has shown ability in the passing game too, He has struggled as a receiver to start off training camp, but that's only one piece to the puzzle.

Padded practices are where football players are made, and it will be interesting if Washington can turn into a different player with pads on. He is a giant of a human and should be able to use that size to his advantage against some of these Pittsburgh defenders. He was able to have some solid blocking sessions against T.J. Watt and will need to continue that trend going forward.