The improvement by its players measures improvement in an NFL team. Young players who grow and develop which show up on the field and teams win more games. Pretty simple stuff. But as we’ve seen with the Pittsburgh Steelers, that development hasn’t been there and the team has remained stagnant.
A perfect example of this is the 2024 season and Pro Football Focus’ most improved players for each team. The best they could come up with on a team full of young players was tight end Darnell Washington. Here’s what they had to say about the pick:
Washington featured more frequently in the passing game in 2024, catching 19 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown. He still has a way to go before he’s the finished product, but Washington improved his grade from 49.8 in 2023 to 73.4 in 2024 and still showed his value as one of the best blocking tight ends in the game.
Washington going from seven receptions to 19 was the biggest improvement a Steelers player had from 2023 to 2024. Yikes. We probably would have gone for wide receiver Calvin Austin for our most improved player after going from 17 receptions in 2023 to 36 in 2024 but either way, you understand there weren’t a whole lot of options either way.
