George Pickens has high hopes for Darnell Washington

Steelers wide receiver George Pickens has a pair of his former Georgia teammates with him now in Pittsburgh, and he’s super high on the potential for at least one of them. With Mike Tomlin’s group opening up training camp this past week, Pickens went on record raving about Darnell Washington.

“Maximum Darnell Washington is probably the greatest tight end in the NFL,” Pickens said in a video posted to Steelers.com. “Just off of size, hands and the stuff that he can do. Learning plays and all the mental stuff, that’ll just come with Darnell time. But as far as physicality and his ability (nods).”

Washington is coming off of a junior season at Georgia in which he set career-highs in all categories. Washington hauled in 28 passes for 454 yards and two touchdowns. He caught at least one pass in 13 of the 15 games the Bulldogs played and multiple in eight of those.

Washington had a couple of his best career games in 2022 as well with 78 yards on four catches versus Vanderbilt and five grabs against Mississippi State. One of those in the win over the Bulldogs was a touchdown, his first of the season and just the second of his career. He would add another in the SEC Championship Game, the second straight season in which he brought in a score on that big stage.

At 6-foot-7 and nearly 270 pounds, Washington brings a skillset to the table that is hard to find. Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada shared his excitement to work with Washington after Pittsburgh selected him at No. 93 overall in this spring’s NFL Draft.

“He’s unbelievable. It’s all over the tape. He’s a giant human being that takes pride in blocking. He enjoys being a blocker like he’s been quoted saying. He’s a sixth offensive lineman. I mean, he really understands what his body can do, and I do think he can catch balls,” Canada said. “They had so many weapons at Georgia, I’m not sure his totals are maybe what you might think they could be, but he is definitely a blocker. As a guy, we obviously formaled him, met with him there in Indy and we had him back. He’s a really really really good person, likes football, likes being physical and I’m really excited about it.”

“He can be anything,” Canada continued when asked about the role Washington could play in the red zone. “Obviously his size comes into play. We’ve got a lot of good weapons right now. I do believe that because of the weapons that they had on their team his pass catching total might not be as impressive as some when you just look at stats, but you know, that’s what a lot of people do. He does make plays on the ball. He can run after the catch. He has a couple real impressive highlights running through guys, running over guys. So yeah, he can be a weapon in different parts of the field for sure.”

George Pickens ready for year two

Pickens, coming off of an exceptional rookie season, has made noise already too. After totaling 52 receptions, 801 yards and four touchdowns last fall, Pickens’ quarterback, fellow second year Kenny Pickett, said he believes Pickens has potential to be one of the best in the league.

“George could be a top guy in the league, no doubt,” Pickett said during an appearance on Chris Long’s Green Light podcast. “There’s probably three catches in practice that stick out to me that are better than the one that he had that everyone saw in the season. His natural ability — his floor is so high, I guess just based off of the natural ability. Now we put together a nice route package for him. He continues to work on his game and we work on our continuity together. I’m really excited to play with him going into Year Two.”

“First play on the play sheet and it was the perfect look to make that throw,” Pickett added to Peter King about a throw and catch connection between him and Pickens in training camp. “It was one-high. If George is one on one I’m gonna take that matchup, and it kind of played out that way. I’m always gonna give him those opportunities to go make those plays.”

The Steelers, who also have Broderick Jones on their offense alongside Pickens and Washington, open the preseason Friday, August 11th against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Later in the preseason, the Bulldogs will get to enjoy a trip back to the Peach State playing the Falcons August 24th at Mercedes Benz Stadium before opening regular season play against the San Francisco 49ers on September 10th.