The Steelers and tight end Darnell Washington have reached agreement on a four-year, $42M extension

Love it. That could look cheap if they use him more. So much for the health (knee) concerns. Somewhere I guessed Herbig, Porter and the Mountain would get extended this year. That's 2. Forgot about Benton. Good draft class. Omar really turning things over and making it his team. If this year's class works out (and I think it will) we're in really good shape

 

good pick getting a second contract.

 

Haven't been this excited by an extension in a while. It doesn't seem like we will be underutilizing Mt. Washington any longer.

 

This is a good deal.

 

I wonder how much cap space is left. JPJ and Benton are next up. I really don't want to hear about "hold ins" at OTAs but it seems Omar is working hard to get these done

 

This is false. I have presented moves they should have made. I presented a detailed explanation of what they should have done in the 2025 offseason, including trading Watt instead of overpaying him.

The Rodgers example you just gave is misleading because it includes the deal this year. They would have had to commit a lot more to Darnold than they ended up committing to Rodgers last offseason if they wanted to get him. If anything, what you wrote helps demonstrate that I was right to say they should have gone after Darnold instead, something they would have more easily been able to do had they not been hell bent on overpaying a declining Watt.

Gotta love the old man patting himself on the back for an inaccurate post he made.

It really amazes me that some of y'all are arguing that the Steelers wouldn't be better off if they had more cap space available. It really is one of the dumbest arguments I've ever seen on this board.

 

Good signing. Just hope they find a way to use Washington AND Friermuth in the passing game.

 

The math is not on your side:

2025 Cap Hits:
Darnold - $13.4 million
Rodgers - $14.15 million

2026 Cap Hits:
Darnold: $37.9 million
Rodgers: $22.5 million

The Steelers CHOSE not to sign Darnold. They were not prevented from signing Darnold. They could have easily made up the cap between Darnold's 2026 cap # and Rodgers with a couple restructures and other standard NFL cap gymnastics. And unless you are arguing that the Rooney's didn't have the cash to put in escrow for the Darnold bonus dollars, the Steelers paid MORE in 2025 cap dollars for Rodgers to "play" QB.

No one is disputing your point that the Steelers could have signed BETTER players between 2024 and today. But the Watt contract is not why the did not. They did not because they made poor player evaluations.

If you want to get steamed about a contract....why in the world is an NFL team willing to pay what's left of Jalen Ramsey just about $20 million per year? Like I know why they made the initial dump Minkah trade but to keep thinking Ramsey is gonna be someone again....that is just getting goofy.

 

Arthur Smith is no longer here. Perhaps this officially is now a possibility.

 

Had Darnell ranked within the Top 20 of my 2023 Top 32 Big Board. He has panned out well but I do believe he still hasn't fully peaked yet. Here is hoping that Darnell can be that monster I envisioned him to be.

 

Exactly

If they wanted Darnold they would have Darnold

Watt was not even a blip on the screen

It’s simple to understand for most people

Although some people aren’t even very good with understanding English

 

I don't think Darnold would have come to Pittsburgh even with a similar offer that the Seahawks.

 

Khan is on a heater

 

The ONLY ding I have for Washington, "Hold onto the ball better."

 

Well... I thought Smith was gonna use the TE's more. And I guess he did... but it was the wrong TE... Jonnu Smith.

 

I'd also say you dont always have to put your head down when defenders are trying to tackle you. He will end up having concussion issues like Green. Guts know he is a lot to take off his feet so they will hit him as hard as they can and by lowering his head it makes it collateral damage on those hits.

 

Jonnu Smith was a Arthur Smith player....This is why he was on the field so much

 

Just a day or two ago there was a clickbait article by some guy named Tommy Jagoff (Jaggi) stating that Washington had gotten too large and the Steelers need to tell him to lose weight

 

They just restructured his contract

 

I hope the 2nd part is correct. His APY is less than PF's though. And PF's contract is 2 years old IIRC.

So I still worry that we won't use him enough. Especially since MM historically has been more 11 than 12.

 

Enough. 1st year cap hits a generally low since most of the players cash in year 1 will be from the SB. And that gets spread over (up to) 5 years.

They'll almost certainly restructure DK though.

 

Yep.

While still getting targets to Bernard.

Hopefully the defense can get off the field this year so we aren't essentially last in offensive snaps again. And that we can stay on the field on offense unlike the Kenny / Canada years.