Will Darnell Washington Change the Way Tight End is Played?

CBS, Sports Illustrated, Draftwire, Athlon Sports, Fox Sports, Pro Football Focus, Bleacher Report and The Athletic are all seeing Georgia’s tight-end Darnell Washington as a first-round prospect, but not First Round Mock NFL Draft Analyst Ken Becks.

#0 Darnell Washington

POSITION: Tight End (TE)
SCHOOL: Georgia
HEIGHT: 6-7
WEIGHT: 270

Evaluated Games (click to view games watched to form this evaluation):

Missouri ’22

Vanderbilt ’22

Florida ’22

Mississippi State ’22

LSU ’22

Strengths

Washington is an imposing, mammoth figure of a human being at the TE position.

He’s been an an underutilized weapon in the passing game throughout his collegiate career.

Pass catcher

What does Washington look like catching the football?

He provides a large catch radius for a quarterback (QB) with a huge wingspan. The most effective range for this big man as a receiver is in the short-to-intermediate route level.

Quite often, he was deployed from the slot and wide outside the numbers. This accounts for his athleticism to move around and play multiple catch spots in the passing game.

Washington’s movement and his route running are much more fluid than anticipated for his size.

He’s a fluid pass catcher, who is able to routinely catch passes away from his body, while exhibiting excellent reactionary instincts adjusting to passes. Good focus and positioning is shown when the ball is coming his direction. He demonstrates strong hands at the catch point, and he is effective high-pointing catches over defenders as well.

This makes Washington a viable weapon in the passing game.

There’s no hesitation shown bringing in passes while defenders are closing in either. He is able to quickly transition upfield after the catch with a strong and physical running style with the ball in his hands.

Blocking

This big Georgia tight-end possesses good initial contact push and physicality traits versus opponents.

Washington shows a nasty streak in the blocking game.

When opportunity presents itself, he looks to downright dominate, engulfing opponents once he gets on top of them. Often, he’s finishing off blocks till the whistle blows.

The thing that also stands out was how Washington displays a good football IQ. He instinctively measures proper distance of his hand placement on defenders when blocking. Good reactionary time during blocks is another thing that stood out.

Washington displays good effective bend execution on blocks as well, which adds to his overall effectiveness, and enables him to mirror defenders, while consistently sustaining blocks.

When delivering lower body blocks on opponents, he consistently finishes.

Staying back in pass protection for the QB, he displays agile feet, covering a good area of the field, and displacing excellent hand technique keeping blockers at a distance.

On blocking assignments, he effectively moves opponents out of the way.

H-Back versatility

Washington’s athleticism, mobility and versatility could make him the ultimate H-Back at 270 pounds!

Routinely, he plays the role of a lead blocker coming out of the backfield, where his talents are on full display. This is when he showcases his agility, reactionary skills and effectiveness sustaining blocks out in space.

Washington is the ultimate chess piece in this role versus defenders.

Weaknesses

His low receiving production throughout his college career is the first thing that jumps out.

When Washington’s momentum is slowed as a receiver, he has difficulty regenerating speed to gain additional yardage.

After making the catch, he provides limited movement to keep defenders off balance in order to pick up additional yardage. Too often, he is too focused on anticipating contact, which hampers his upside as a 20+ yard explosion yardage gain generator.

My biggest knock on him as a blocker, too often he is too high out of his stance coming off the line of scrimmage.

The other thing is I have to be leery about is he could grow out of the the position if he puts on additional weight. This could lead to a position change to offensive line if he gains additional weight?

2023 NFL Draft Prospect Value

Second-Round (Late)

Scouting Report Summary

Washington possesses the talent to be a significant chess piece for an NFL offense He’s an intriguing talent to keep your eye on.

Ken Becks [TheScout] has been covering & scouting NFL prospects for over 30 years! Ken has worked with the Indoor Football Scouting Bureau and he’s been mentioned in publications such as Scout.com, ABCNews.com, and TheNewsStar.com. He covers the NFL Draft for FirstRoundMock.com and he is the founder and Director of 1stDownScouting.com. Follow him @1stdown_scout on Twitter.