Kovacevic: The real reason all these scary-big humans are all smiles

I was trying to carry on a conversation with Connor Heyward. Without success.

That's because the kid couldn't stop glancing across toward the stall of Darnell Washington, where the globe's most gargantuan tight end was grinning as wide as his wingspan.

"I know what that's about!" Heyward would finally -- and playfully -- bark that way. "I know!"

Washington: "Oh, you do?"

Heyward: "I do! Because a certain someone caught two touchdowns in seven-shots!"

Washington: "Might be!"

This was Thursday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex upon the conclusion of the Steelers' second week of OTAs and, yeah, Washington did catch two touchdowns in the common drill called seven-shots that sees the offense getting, not coincidentally, seven shots at reaching the end zone.

Which is big. As in, Mount Washington big. As in ...

Darnell Washington vs. the sled: “Oh, SHIT!” pic.twitter.com/bUL9OBR7e8

— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) May 30, 2024

... yeah, he did that Thursday, too. The poor sled's already filed for workers' comp.

He towers above the rest of us mortals at 6 feet 7, 265 pounds, one of his legs would populate all of Leetsdale, he's only 22 years old, and he's hungry for a heck of lot more than the seven total catches for 61 yards he made as a rookie in 2023. Not to suggest he disappointed. Far from it. If anything, he only bolstered the "six man" branding he'd picked up for his blocking at the University of Georgia, best embodied by an exemplary 72.3 pass-block rating in the 511 snaps -- 48 percent of all -- that the Steelers entrusted him to make.

But now, with Arthur Smith bringing a bullying offense to the forefront, piled on top of Washington's 4.64-second capability in the 40, plus his experience at being effective at play-action in college ...

“For me, it’s very exciting," Washington was saying yesterday. "It's definitely a tight-end friendly offense. Different schemes from last year. Just going against our own defense here, they kind of expect what we did last year, but then, when we switch it up, it’s an adjustment for them, as well."

As for his own part ...

“That's exciting, too. Definitely getting a chance to showcase that. Because last year ... I’m not gonna say I had a big impact in that role. But I feel like I may have a little bit more impact this year coming up. Can’t wait.”

I can't, either. Could be a blast. I'm already on board with this being 'The Year of Pat Freiermuth,' maybe even to the extreme that he becomes Russell Wilson's second receiving option after George Pickens. But this ... deploying double tight ends, having both excel at blocking -- check Freirmuth's film from the final month of 2023 -- and affording Smith the luxury of altering his looks without having to alter personnel and advertise those looks, that can't be overstated.

It's coming.

But I'll be honest: I kinda doubted it would. Partially because Washington saw 10 targets all of last season, but mostly because I'd heard from within that there was skepticism about the way in which he'd set himself after the catch. He'd come down in a way that, as one evaluator worded it for me, wasn't "athletic enough."

Maybe the evaluator's right. But man, that sure sounds like a skill that could be coached up, as opposed to some fatal flaw.

For his part, Washington pinpoints two other traits as his offseason focus:

1. "Getting in and out of breaks. I feel like that’s the key thing in route-running, or one of the most important, because it’s hard if you can’t really get in and out of breaks. It throws some of the timing off. Everything is a timing thing. It’s just, by myself, doing cone drills, a little bit of sand work, things like that."

2. “The route tree. That’s probably one of my main things."

No elaboration there, and none expected.

He added this, unsolicited: "Throwing multiple tight ends in there at once can mess some defenses up. I feel like that’s part of the game.”

More and more it is. It's not just Smith's Falcons who were doing it. Look at the Lions. Look at the Ravens, at least when Mark Andrews has been healthy.

"You do see it more, and you're going to see it here, too," Heyward told me. "We've got some weapons."

"That’s Coach Smith’s history, and we all know that," Rodney Williams told me. "I can’t wait to see what all it holds for us because, man, we think we have guys who can do pretty much anything that’s asked of them. So it gives us a chance to come out in multiple looks, multiple-tight-end formations, and just continue to keep the defense on their toes and off guard.”

• Neat thing and somewhat related: Anytime I ask any of these guys, tight ends or wide receivers, who they think might eventually become the de facto WR2, they'll defer to other actual wide receivers in the room. Might just be a respect thing toward Calvin Austin, Van Jefferson, Quez Watkins and others. Might not.

• Similarly, anytime I ask any of these tight ends who among them might fill a fullback role, I get back a bunch of shrugs. It almost has to be one of them, probably Heyward. But he won't say: "I'm ready for whatever anyone asks."

• Sights seldom seen in any other locker room or clubhouse in professional sports: Mike Tomlin strode in after practice Thursday and plopped himself onto the stool next to Isaac Seumalo's stall, and the two talked for several minutes. Never once seen it with the other two teams I cover, and I'll bet it's rare elsewhere in the NFL, as well.

• Had a brief chat with Tomlin myself on this day. The man's energized. Seriously energized. And it's got a ton to do with this emphasis on physicality. Right in his range.

• Smith's liking what he's seeing of Dan Moore at left tackle. Don't shoot the messenger.

• Look, by some measures, Moore was the NFL's lowest-rated pass blocker at his position. I get that. Everyone gets that. But his run-blocking's always been a strength, and that's what's wanted here now. Smith wants to see what he recently described for me as "the fight" in his players. Moore's got that.

• No personality on this roster's emerged more between 2023 and 2024 than that of Broderick Jones. And I mean that in the best way. Bulldog.

• Odd-looking exercise equipment -- a contraption that required the athlete to bend forward and down off an elevated disc -- was brought out to the field Thursday after practice. Karl Dunbar, defensive line coach, was urging anyone in sight to give it a go. Took no more than a millisecond for Keeanu Benton to sprint in that direction, drop himself onto that disc and nail it. They don't love that young man for nothing.

• Before I transition to the next team, I'll share that more players here have asked me about Paul Skenes than I'd had questions asked of me about the Pirates in a lifetime. Strange, but understandable.

PIRATES

• When I reported three weeks ago from Milwaukee that Rowdy Tellez might have only a weekend at Wrigley Field to avoid being DFA'd, and then he wasn't DFA'd after he couldn't hit there, and then he's still stuck around after showing again and again and again that he can't hit anywhere ... that'd reasonably raise questions, not just about management's decision-making but also the reporting, right?

Here's what I've got on the latter front: Ben Cherington just might be all the way alone on this one. All. The. Way. And it won't change until someone over his head, almost certainly Travis Williams, puts a stop to it. And my reporting, as one might imagine, didn't originate with the GM.

• Yes, there's an understanding with way-upper management of the opportunity the Pirates have, as well as the resultant need to embrace it. It's shaping up to be a fascinating couple of months. I genuinely don't believe Cherington will be permitted to stand pat, much as that approach would follow every precedent he's ever known.

• To reiterate: I can't emphasize enough how important Williams will be.

• Tellez has been a model citizen. Can't take that from him. Total team-first type. One of the happiest humans in Detroit after that Game 2 romp two nights ago.

• Andrew McCutchen told me in Detroit he never wavered in his self-belief, even when his batting average bottomed out at .175 after an 0-for-5 May 10 in Chicago: "No, not at all. I knew I was doing the right things. I knew the results would come." He's 37, my friends, and he's leading the Pirates in home runs in 2024, having hit his eighth in that Game 2. 

• One of the few personal rules I've set for myself as related to opinions in columns: Never doubt Cutch. This is real, too. It'll never be broken.

• Skenes emerged from the dugout in Detroit a couple hours before what'd become a rain-free rainout, doing his usual fist-bumps with everyone in sight. And that included Oneil Cruz, Edward Olivares and others in a Latin American group at the far end having their own clique-like session. I'd mentioned to Skenes that I couldn't recall a baseball rookie feeling comfortable broaching such a scene, to which he laughed and responded, "I just wish my Spanish was better. I'm working on it." He actually is.

PENGUINS

• Had a cool exchange with Mike Sullivan upon his being named U.S. Olympic coach for the 2026 Games in Italy. He called it "an absolute honor." As someone who's covered five Olympics, including both of those in which Sidney Crosby and Canada claimed gold -- Vancouver, British Columbia, and Sochi, Russia -- all I put forth was that it'll be like no experience in his life. Because the Olympics never are.

• Only recently learned that Lars Eller was among the players Kyle Dubas tried to trade at the NHL deadline. No takers. Which to me is ... wow. Just something to think about when watching the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs and all these teams that could've used a player and person of that caliber.

• Brayden Yager's only 19 amid this wonderful run to the Memorial Cup -- our Taylor Haase traveled to Saginaw, Mich., last week for an informative one-on-one -- and all I'll add is that there are those in the organization who see him as a wholly legit threat to play in Pittsburgh this coming season. He'll need to show NHL-level upper-body strength and resilience, above all else. He's got the skill and sense now.

• Thanks for reading our franchise feature, one that was once penned by this forever friend and member of our family:

Please join me, Dali and everyone at our company in wishing Dale Lolley the swiftest, smoothest recovery and return to doing what he loves. I've been in touch with him regularly, and he sounds like he's doing ... exactly as all of us would expect: Undaunted.