The long and short of it is Darnell Washington, Calvin Austin becoming threats for Steelers

If they aren’t the respective biggest and smallest offensive skill-position players in the NFL, each is close to it.

The long and the short of it is Darnell Washington and Calvin Austin III are evolving into significant pieces of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

After relatively little usage in the passing game in 2023 while each was playing in the NFL for the first time, Washington and Austin are increasingly favored targets — particularly since Russell Wilson took over as quarterback six weeks ago.

Over the past five games, the diminutive but speedy Austin and the towering, imposing Washington have combined for 21 catches on 34 targets, 314 receiving yards and three total touchdowns.

While those statistics aren’t necessarily eye-popping, they do correlate with the Nos. 3-4 receiving options for a team that has known quantities in WR1 George Pickens and a bona fide No. 1 tight end in Pat Freiermuth but has been struggling to find other weapons.

Washington and Austin were just behind Pickens and Freiermuth (four receptions each) with three receptions apiece during the Steelers’ most recent outing, a 24-19 defeat at the Cleveland Browns. Austin led the team in receiving yards (78), including a 46-yard third-down play and a 23-yard touchdown catch that gave the Steelers a fourth-quarter lead.

“He just did a great job of getting open,” Wilson said of the 46-yard catch after the game. “He did a great job of just really making a play. Then I think the one for the touchdown, I knew how to get the ball off. They were about to hit me, and I just had to let it go down the middle to Calvin. He did a great job and just threw it and anticipated where he was going to be. He made a heck of a catch, heck of a route, and that was awesome.”

Over the past five games — the Steelers won four — Austin leads the team in touchdowns with three. Though that includes a 73-yard punt-return TD against the New York Giants, Austin’s two receiving touchdowns are tied with Pickens for the most over that stretch.

For the season — including a 55-yard touchdown from Justin Fields in Week 4 — Austin’s three receiving touchdowns are tied with Freiermuth for most on the team.

“Coach (Mike) Tomlin always talks about guys who can create space in a non-vertical area,” wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni said recently. “Who is that player on every team? And (Austin) is our guy that way. He does a great job of that. That’s his gift, that’s what he was blessed with, that twitch and that awareness on how to work individuals.”

Generously listed at 5-foot-9, 162 pounds, Austin requires gifts such as quickness and special awareness. But if Austin creates space (as Azzanni calls it) “non-vertically,” Washington has a rare ability to create space vertically — as in, literally so.

His official listing of 6-7, 264 pounds probably doesn’t do him justice. Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts recently was speaking about Washington when he said, “You don’t expect a guy who is 6-7 and 300-plus — uh oh … I said that out loud?”

No joke — it would almost take two Austins to make for the mass of one Washington.

“He’s a big man, and yet he’s shown (receiving ability) in practice, he’s shown it in training camp that he can be consistent in the passing game,” Roberts said. “So it makes it easy for the play-caller to get it off the call sheet. He’s done it early in games, and he’s rewarded us with some big plays.”

Nicknamed “Mount,” Washington had his first career touchdown earlier this season in Denver, and he’s recorded a pair of receptions of at least 25 yards while making 11 catches in five games with Wilson throwing.

Consider that Washington had only seven receptions last year as a rookie. Austin, in his first pro season on the field (2022 was spent on injured reserve), had only 12 catches. He and Washington each already have blown past career highs in catches and yards.

Each a mid-round draft pick, Austin and Washington entered the league with unique skill sets (speed and size, respectively), but observers wondered if Austin was too small and Washington, well, too big to be viable receiving threats.

The contrast between them couldn’t be greater — and perhaps that’s part of what Wilson and coordinator Arthur Smith are leveraging in deploying Washington and Austin more often.

“It builds my confidence getting the ball in my hands and getting more comfortable with it,” Washington said. “Because at this level I didn’t really have that many opportunities, so I feel like each catch it keeps building my confidence as a person with the ball in my hands and run after.”