Rob Gronkowski Expecting Explosive 2023 Season For Steelers' Darnell Washington: "He Looks Like A Freak Out There"

With the Pittsburgh Steelers finishing up their annual training camp this week, the positional battles within the depth chart are intensifying. With such a large plethora of new faces participating in the Steelers camp this season, there is clearly going to be a new look at nearly every level of the depth chart once the dust settles after the cut deadline on August 29th. But across the entire depth chart, there is one position that is poised to take the Steelers offense to an entirely new level.

The tight end position in Pittsburgh has seen its ebbs and flows in the past decade. The position was glorified by Heath Miller through his 11 seasons as one of Ben Roethlisberger’s favorite targets. Since Miller’s retirement after the 2015 season, there have been a slew of names who have come and gone trying to replicate what Miller brought to the offense. The Steelers seemingly hit gold in the 2021 in selecting Pat Freiermuth and he proved to be as advertised. But as the chapter closed on Roethlisberger’s career and a new era began in Pittsburgh, a new looking tight end room has evolved as well.

Since Assistant General Manager Andy Weidl joined the Steelers front office, he brought his offensive-line acumen with him to every player evaluation. Weidl believes in a large, physically-imposing offensive attack at nearly every level. The Steelers are still working on getting back to the bruising, run-heavy offense they’ve been known for, that has been relatively quiet in recent years. While the 2022 season took a step forward in that regard, there was a key dynamic that was missing that Weidl and company recognized when they saw it. That piece is rookie Darnell Washington.

Standing at 6’7”, and clocking in at about 265 pounds, Washington is a mountain on the field. During his college career at the University of Georgia, he built a reputation of using his size to his advantage as a blocker, as well as an incredible red zone threat to smaller defensive backs. In his early action in camp and the team’s first preseason game, he’s lived up to that reputation and has shown he has what it takes to be a well-rounded tight end, not just a blocking specialist. Washington’s tape has caught the eyes of players, coaches, and fans across the country. More notably, a somewhat-rival of the Steelers has seemed to have fallen in love with the young tight end.

Rob Gronkowski Gushed Over The Steelers And Darnell Washington

Rob Gronkowski had arguably one of the greatest careers at the tight end position in NFL history. He’s been a part of four Super Bowl-winning teams and was a four-time First Team All-Pro during his time in the league. Those teams featured top-level offensive play, specifically at the tight end position. Gronkowski played major parts in each of those championship seasons and acquired keen insight into what drives a strong offensive attack. Gronkowski joined Kay Adams on Adams’ Up and Adams Show and explained what he’s learned regarding what it takes for an offense to take it to the next level.

“I always believed that having two tight ends is the best. It makes the defense have the most difficult time. If you have two tight ends, that can make an offense unstoppable, and it's rare. If you go back to my days when I had another tight end with me, I mean it just makes the offense just prolific. Just unstoppable, it gives you so many more options in the run game, in the pass game, and play-action.”

It looks like the Steelers have what Gronkowski described. With Freiermuth being one of the premiere pass-catchers in the Pittsburgh offense, paired with Washington’s already-established blocking ability, the two-tight-end set is alive and well. It is that formula that is forcing Gronkowski to grow fond of the Steelers as a fan after years of playing them. So much so, Gronkowski admitted Pittsburgh is being slept on heading into the 2023 season.

“You know, they’ve had a winning record since coach [Mike] Tomlin’s been there. They have a great defense. Their offense struggled last year. I think they’re going to pick it up a little bit. And their quarterback, I think he’s going to come through, you know, he’s going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the division this year.”

Gronkowski mentioned how the Steelers offense struggled in 2022, but was able to catch on later with Kenny Pickett leading the way. With that blueprint already set, the new tight end duo of Freiermuth and Washington is the key ingredient to ignite any sort of playoff push in Pittsburgh. Gronkowski continued to gush about his favorite rookie for the 2023 season.

“Yes, Darnell Washington. I think he’s going to have a great year. I would say he’s going to put up around 600-700 yards and help the offense gain some first downs, a couple of touchdowns in the red zone. He’s 6’7”, like 265 pounds and he looks like a freak out there.”

As much as fans would love to see Gronkowski’s projections transfer into reality, those may seem a bit lofty for the rookie. In his three seasons in college, he tallied 774 yards with three touchdowns combined. For reference, Freiermuth posted 732 yards with two touchdowns in his 2022 season. With that said, if the Steelers offense features a pair of tight ends who are able to each eclipse the 700-yard mark with equal touchdown production, good things are going to happen.

Gronkowski used his 2011 season to fuel his projection. In the New England Patriots 2011 season where they would ultimately lose to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, Gronkowski was paired with Aaron Hernandez at tight end. Between the two, they compiled 2,237 receiving yards with 24 touchdowns. In terms of the tight end history in Pittsburgh, Miller was only able to clear the 700-yard mark three times in his career coming in the 2009, 2012, and 2014 seasons.

The hype surrounding the Steelers in 2023 has only picked up steam as we head closer to the regular season opener. That hype is only becoming more warranted with each practice session in training camp and is poised to take another leap in the team’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Washington has been a large catalyst to driving that hype and it is obvious it is real. Gronkowski adding more fuel to the tight end position in Pittsburgh is something that may sound odd, but if he’s correct on those projections, the sky is the limit for the Steelers in 2023.

What numbers do you think Washington will post in 2023? Do you think we’ll see a lot of two-tight-end sets on offense? Let us know in the comments below!

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