{"id":906971,"date":"2026-07-02T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/906971\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:08:14","slug":"travis-kelce-george-kittle-get-downright-giddy-marveling-at-darnell-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/906971\/","title":{"rendered":"Travis Kelce, George Kittle Get Downright Giddy Marveling At Darnell Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 offense struggled once again in 2025. However, there were some bright spots,<\/a> including Darnell Washington. In his third NFL season, Washington remained a huge force as a blocker while continuing to improve as a receiver. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce took note of Washington\u2019s play last year, and he was impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to keep incorporating that man down the seam,\u201d Kelce said Wednesday on his New Heights podcast.<\/a> \u201cHe was making some fucking plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington finished the season with 31 catches for 364 yards and one touchdown. While those numbers might not jump off the page, they don\u2019t tell the full story of Washington\u2019s impact. He made the most of his opportunities in the passing game, and his inclusion in the Steelers\u2019 jumbo package helped spark their run game.<\/p>\n

Kelce isn\u2019t the only superstar tight end who loves watching Washington play. The San Francisco 49ers\u2019 George Kittle also praised Washington during that same podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had some sick plays last year,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cThere was a play where he broke four tackles and it took three guys to tackle him. I was like, \u2018Oh my god\u2026\u2019 He was on someone else\u2019s podcast, he said he weighed 320. I was like, \u2018Goodness gracious\u2026\u2019 One of the biggest people I\u2019ve ever seen\u2026His highlights are fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Washington isn\u2019t quite as big as Kittle believes, he\u2019s pretty close. He confirmed that he played at 311<\/a> pounds last year. Kelce did not realize just how big Washington was, either, judging by his reaction to what Kittle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way.\u00a0 Three twenty? Holy fucking shit. I get up to high 260s and I\u2019m like, \u2018I need to get down. There\u2019s no way I can play this position like that.\u2019 This dude is just fucking owning everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington is a unicorn, and that\u2019s why the Steelers gave him a nice contract extension this offseason. Players like Washington don\u2019t grow on trees. It\u2019s a good sign when Kelce and Kittle are amazed at what a tight end can do, too.<\/p>\n

And it sounds like Washington won\u2019t be as heavy this year<\/a> as the Steelers seem to want him to slim down slightly. That could help him take more steps forward as a receiving threat. The Steelers didn\u2019t pay him all that money to have him sit on the bench. While he might never have numbers like Kelce or Kittle, Washington should continue to be an important piece of Pittsburgh\u2019s offense.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 offense struggled once again in 2025. However, there were some bright spots, including Darnell Washington.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":906972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[2784,43942,84326,1232,1545,62,3572,939,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-906971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-darnell-washington","tag-george-kittle","tag-new-heights-podcast","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-travis-kelce","tag-trending","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116849128764799757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}