The Patriots are preparing for a Steelers offense that can hit them from a lot of different angles, but one name has clearly jumped out to New England’s defensive staff: Darnell Washington.
Pittsburgh brings plenty of recognizable firepower into Sunday’s matchup. Aaron Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer and one of the best quarterbacks the league has ever seen.
DK Metcalf gives the Steelers a No. 1 receiver who has already been to two Pro Bowls and has averaged more than 1,100 receiving yards over his first seven NFL seasons. Then there’s Jaylen Warren, Pat Freiermuth and other highly drafted pieces such as OT Troy Fautanu and WR Michael Pittman Jr.
But Patriots defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr singled out Washington as the one player he views as a “conflict piece.”
So what makes the fourth-year tight end such a problem?
“A big one,” Kuhr said. “He’s athletic.
Obviously, his size and strength are no joke. He’s great in the run game, like we’ve seen on tape.
He did it last year and he did it last week. He gets the ball in his hands, he can make the first one miss if you’re not [playing] great technique taking him down.
He is a great piece to have. He is a conflict piece.”
Washington came into the league as a third-round pick in 2023 and has played in 53 games for Pittsburgh. At 6-foot-7 and 264 pounds, he’s Rodgers’ biggest target and one of his most trusted ones. In a little more than a season together, Rodgers has looked his way 45 times, and Washington has turned those targets into 33 catches, 382 yards and a touchdown.
That production may not jump off the page over a 17-game stretch, but New England is treating him like much more than a stat-line player.
“You have to play him in the run game and he’s not just like a check-down guy,” Kuhr said. “He’ll run vertical, they’ll run any type of route with him.
He’s got great hands and he’s a runner after the catch. He’s a piece we’re well aware of [but] as long as we play to our identity and our style, and we play within our scheme, hopefully we’re in a good spot with that.”
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