Steelers rookie comparisons: TE Darnell Washington

There are few football players who can enter the league on a note like Darnell Washington’s, but the Steelers third-rounder has even more potential than we had initially hoped.

Selected with the 93rd pick back in April, Washington is a tight end out of Georgia. Him just playing for a school with its degree of football prowess is enough to establish a fair level of NFL preparedness, but it’s his build that puts him over the top in the fan-favorite department.

To anyone with eyes, Washington meets the requirements necessary to be declared a “physical specimen,” and his place in the Steelers food chain only proves this. His uncommon height of 6’7” ties him with Isaiahh Loudermilk for the second-tallest player on the roster (behind only 6’8” TE Zach Gentry), and his weight of 264 lbs. puts him in the team’s top four heaviest non-linemen.

Simply put, a stature like Washington’s doesn’t exactly make him a defender’s go-to adversary. Along with that though, one might assume it’d also make finding a suitable comparison for him all the more difficult, but that is surprisingly not the case. In fact, there is one NFL legend that shares height, weight, and much more in common with Washington than most would likely believe at first glance. His name? Jason Witten.

Witten played in the league for 17 seasons, sealing his legacy as one of the greatest tight ends ever while on the Dallas Cowboys. By the time he hung up his cleats for good, he had 11 Pro Bowls and four All-Pro selections to his name. In other words, an unproven rookie being compared to a player with his accolades is undeniably a bold statement, so what is it about the pair that makes such a stance even remotely valid?

For starters, Witten had dimensions that match Washington’s almost perfectly. At the 2003 NFL Combine, he was listed at just about 6’6” and 264 lbs., meaning that the difference between his build and Washington’s comes down to a single inch. But hold your applause, because that is just the tip of the similarity iceberg.

While the closeness that the two share in both height and weight is a neat coincidence, their comparability hits its peak when discussing their athletic prowess. This can be seen in not just some of their combine performances, but also in the specifics of their football backgrounds.

Getting through the final slices of competitiveness in their combine numbers, the displays that saw the tightest results were the 40-yard dash and the vertical jump. Washington ran his 40 in 4.64 seconds, which was insignificantly superior to Witten’s 4.65 seconds. As for the vertical jump, the two tied each other exactly with a recorded 31”.

Washington’s road to the NFL was paved an awful lot like Witten’s as well

Now that those stats are out of the way, it’s time for the visual discussion—some players may have the same characteristics on a chart, a stopwatch, and/or whatever else, but what can they do for me come game time? Do they still look so identical?

Despite the fact that previous comparisons have answered that question with an ironclad affirmative, I regret to confess that this one cannot join the club. This matter predominantly falls on how the talents’ overall playstyles contrast, as Darnell Washington is regarded as more of a blocking TE while Jason Witten hangs his hat on being one of the greatest receiving TEs of all time.

However, not all hope is lost, and there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that Washington still holds the potential to be a danger on the passing game due to just how dominating of a presence he brings to the table; with his combination of height, weight, and leaping ability, the thought of him evading coverage and coming down with some higher-reaching passes is far from unrealistic. The other reason is just how well his past experiences align with Witten’s.

Throughout high school and college, Washington’s journey as a young athlete resembled Witten’s in a multitude of ways. Don’t believe me? Then consider this:

• Witten was a two-sport athlete in high school, popping off on both the gridiron and the basketball court—so was Washington.

• Witten played on both offense and defense for his high school football team—so did Washington.

• Early in Witten’s college career, he played at the defensive end position—Washington played it in high school.

• Speaking of Witten’s college days, he played for a title-winning head coach in college football’s top conference—so did Washington.

Now, will all of those facts directly impact Washington’s career as a tight end for the Steelers? No. But nonetheless, it shows that he has managed to follow Witten’s footsteps in several athletic aspects and that only raises his ceiling going forward.

It may not be the most conventional comparison, but none can deny that Darnell Washington has the potential of Jason Witten well within his reach. While the receiving standard seems virtually impossible to meet, the Steelers using him as a consistent target would add all the more to his case for being Witten 2.0, making him undoubtedly worthy of wearing the black and yellow in my eyes.