The Steelers have agreed to a four-year extension with TE Darnell Washington worth $42 million, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, with $21 million of that guaranteed. Washington’s heading into his fourth season after arriving as a third-round pick in 2023. It’ll be his first under a new coaching staff, however, headed by Mike McCarthy. The extension puts Washington under contract with Pittsburgh through 2030, which would be his age-29 season.
McCarthy this week, before the extension was announced: “Love Darnell. He’s been here every day, classroom, good student. He’s a pro’s pro. I’ve been very, very impressed with him. … Year 1, as you get to know your players, there’s certain schemes you may tilt one way or the other, variations of schemes. And definitely we’ve been doing that with our tight ends, and he’s a big part of the reason.”
That quote from McCarthy made plenty of sense before Washington got paid. The new contract with a little more than $10 million in annual average, though, tells us more about how highly these Steelers think of the mountainous tight end.
Washington arrived as a truly rare prospect, combining 94th-percentile height and 86th-percentile weight for the position with a 77th-percentile 40 time. Check out all his measurables from the 2023 Scouting Combine …
The resulting 96th-percentile speed score carried exciting upside. But Washington also brought limited college receiving production, at least in part because he had to share the field with Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.
The pro receiving production has proved similarly limited to date but has grown each year. Washington went from a 7-61-0 receiving line on 10 targets as a rookie to 19-200-1 on 25 targets and then 31-364-1 on 43 targets last year.
His pass-blocking duties have fluctuated alongside that. Washington spent 21.1% of his pass snaps blocking as a rookie, 32% as a sophomore, and then 19.7% last year. Among TEs who have garnered at least 10 targets, Washington has ranked 15th, fourth, and 18th in pass-blocking rate so far.
So will we see similar deployment with the change from OC Arthur Smith to McCarthy? We can’t really know yet.
McCarthy conceded in the quote above that he’s learning his personnel in Year 1. He’ll obviously open September with a clearer plan than he has today, but we should also expect the 2026 offense to evolve as the season progresses.
In addition to the coaching-staff swap, these Steelers have added WR Michael Pittman Jr. (trade), WR Germie Bernard (draft), and RB Rico Dowdle (free agency). And the team retains TE Pat Freiermuth, who’s on his own $12 million-a-year contract.
Freiermuth has led Washington in targets and catches each of their three seasons together. The gap closed quite a bit last year, but Freiermuth still ran a route on 91% of his pass snaps vs. Washington’s 76%.
The new contract certainly points to Washington staying heavily involved in the offense and potentially getting more playing time. But it also comes at a time when the league is paying up for blocking TEs.
Washington presents the skills to maintain that increased receiving role, and McCarthy’s arrival should at least keep Pittsburgh at last year’s elevated pass rate -- 58.8% vs. 50.7% and 52.7% the previous two years -- if not push it higher. Here’s how McCarthy’s pass rates looked across five years as Dallas HC:
But Washington will need to pass Freiermuth in receiving usage to have any shot at fantasy relevance. And he'll likely need a Freiermuth injury to actually matter.
You can stash Washington as a late TE3 in best ball, but he’s unlikely to affect your redraft roster.
The contract stability might seem to enhance Washington’s long-term fantasy outlook, but Freiermuth is also under contract through 2028. It’s tough to envision any meaningful fantasy return for Washington as long as Freiermuth’s on the roster and healthy.
With that in mind, this extension might present a mild dynasty “sell” window on Washington. He’s unlikely to bring much back in a straight 1-1 trade, but you could try including him in a package if you’ve been holding the big guy.
The extension also dents Freiermuth’s dynasty outlook, because it looks like he’ll keep sharing targets.
Freiermuth is a short-term loser here as well. I just highlighted him on a podcast Jared and I recorded Wednesday as a late-round target with big opportunity upside, but that was before Pittsburgh announced Washington’s extension.
I have a hard time seeing either Steelers TE delivering meaningful fantasy value in 2026 (or the two years following).
Washington’s extension also looks like bad news for Germie Bernard’s initial fantasy upside. Pittsburgh paying two TEs $10 million-plus per year points pretty clearly to lots of 2-TE sets, which should keep the rookie slot man off the field quite a bit.
Will that double-TE work mean more rushing than we’ve seen from McCarthy offenses in the past? We’ll see. But retaining a good blocking TE certainly doesn’t hurt the outlooks for Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle.
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