Out
Injury Forearm
Est. Return 2/9/2026
2025 Receiving Stats
REC
31
YDS
364
TD
1
AVG
11.7
TAR
43
Rest-of-Season Projections
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Washington is an excellent blocker who has hovered around 50 percent of offensive snaps for the Steelers over his first two seasons. The 6-foot-7, 264-pound TE is a big target, but Washington doesn’t have much wiggle and has been limited to just 261 receiving yards and one TD through 34 NFL games. The Steelers traded for Jonnu Smith in June, so even if Pat Freiermuth were to miss time, Washington may not see a significant uptick in pass-catching opportunities in a Pittsburgh offense that is likely run-first anyway. Read Past Outlooks
Signed a four-year, $5.35 million contract with the Steelers in May of 2023.
Gets surgery, likely out for season
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that Washington underwent surgery Tuesday to address a broken forearm and won't be available for Sunday's game against the Ravens, Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Tomlin was reluctant to say whether Washington's surgery would keep him sidelined for a potential playoff run, but Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays that the Steelers aren't expecting the tight end back for the postseason even if Pittsburgh clinches the AFC North title with a victory over the Ravens. With that in mind, the Steelers appear set to head into Week 18 with Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith and Connor Heyward as their available options at tight end. Washington concludes his third NFL season with 31 catches for 364 yards and a touchdown on 43 targets over his 16 appearances.
Tomlin was reluctant to say whether Washington's surgery would keep him sidelined for a potential playoff run, but Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays that the Steelers aren't expecting the tight end back for the postseason even if Pittsburgh clinches the AFC North title with a victory over the Ravens. With that in mind, the Steelers appear set to head into Week 18 with Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith and Connor Heyward as their available options at tight end. Washington concludes his third NFL season with 31 catches for 364 yards and a touchdown on 43 targets over his 16 appearances.
NFL Stats
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Fantasy/Red Zone Stats
See red zone opportunities inside the 20, 10 and 5-yard lines along with the percentage of time they converted the opportunity into a touchdown.
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Advanced NFL Stats
How do Darnell Washington's 2025 advanced stats compare to other tight ends?
This section compares his advanced stats with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. The longer the bar, the better it is for the player.
Air Yards Per Game
13.9Air Yards Per Snap
0.41% Team Air Yards
8.1%% Team Targets
9.0%Avg Depth of Target
5.2 YdsCatch Rate
72.1%Drop Rate
9.3%Avg Yds After Catch
7.5% Targeted On Route
23.6%Avg Yds Per Route Run
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2025 NFL Game Log
2025
2024
2023
2025 NFL Game Log
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Snap Distribution / Depth Chart
Snap Counts
Snap %
Steelers 2025 TE Snap Distribution#% of Team Snaps
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#4 TE
Steelers
How often does Darnell Washington run a route when on the field for a pass play?
This data will let you see how Darnell Washington and the other tight ends for the Steelers are being used. Some tight ends may have a lot of snaps, but they're not that useful for fantasy purposes because they're not actually running routes. This data will help you see when this is the case.
Darnell Washington
182 routes 43 targets
242 routes 49 targets
11 routes 3 targets
258 routes 52 targets
Receiving Alignment Breakdown
See where Darnell Washington lined up on the field and how he performed at each spot.
Detailed
Grouped
Side
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This Week's Opposing Pass Defense
How does the Ravens pass defense compare to other NFL teams this season?
The bars represents the team's percentile rank (based on QB Rating Against). The longer the bar, the better their pass defense is. The team and position group ratings only include players that are currently on the roster and not on injured reserve. The list of players in the table only includes defenders with at least 3 attempts against them.
vs Ravens
Sunday, Jan 4th at 8:20PM
Overall QB Rating Against
74.5
Cornerbacks
72.0
Safeties
65.9
Linebackers
96.3
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2025 Darnell Washington Split Stats
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Measurables Review
View College Player Page
How do Darnell Washington's measurables compare to other tight ends?
This section compares his draft workout metrics with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that metric and it would be considered average.
Height
6' 7"Weight
264 lbs40-Yard Dash
4.64 secShuttle Time
4.08 secVertical Jump
31.0 inBroad Jump
122 inBench Press
21 repsHand Length
11.00 inArm Length
34.38 in
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
Washington was a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft due primarily to his blocking ability, but the Steelers were expecting more from the tight end out of Georgia as a pass catcher, especially since Washington had an opportunity to step up while starting TE Pat Freiermuth missed five games due to a hamstring injury. Washington played almost half of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps as a rookie and didn’t miss a game, but he also finished with just seven catches for 61 yards on 10 targets. Even with some improvement likely to come as the 6-foot-7 Washington acclimates to the NFL in his second season, it’s hard to find much upside here considering it took him a season to reach a level of production many tight ends can deliver in a single game.
More Fantasy News
Suffers broken arm Sunday
Coach Mike Tomlin said that Washington suffered a broken arm during Sunday's 13-6 loss to the Browns, Teresa Varley of the Steelers' official site reports.
ANALYSIS
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Won't return Sunday
Washington (forearm) won't return to Sunday's game against the Browns, Burt Lauten of the Steelers' official site reports.
ANALYSIS
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Hurts forearm Sunday
Washington exited Sunday's game against the Browns with a forearm injury, Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Catches three passes in win
Washington caught three of four targets for 36 yards in Sunday's 29-24 win over the Lions.
ANALYSIS
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Reels in three passes Monday
Washington caught three of his four targets for 25 yards in Monday's 28-15 win over Miami.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Drops down to third on depth chart
Washington projects to enter the 2025 season third on Pittsburgh's tight end depth chart behind Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith, whom Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports the Steelers acquired in a trade Monday from the Dolphins, along with Jalen Ramsey and a 2027 seventh-round pick in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
ANALYSIS
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is fond of using formations with multiple tight ends, but both Freiermuth and Smith are significantly more accomplished pass catchers than Washington, who brings most of his value as a blocker. Barring an injury to one of the other two, Washington will have a hard time carving out a large enough role to meaningfully improve his production after being held to 200 or fewer receiving yards in each of his first two NFL regular seasons.
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is fond of using formations with multiple tight ends, but both Freiermuth and Smith are significantly more accomplished pass catchers than Washington, who brings most of his value as a blocker. Barring an injury to one of the other two, Washington will have a hard time carving out a large enough role to meaningfully improve his production after being held to 200 or fewer receiving yards in each of his first two NFL regular seasons.