The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a more complementary --- yet probably more intriguing unit because of the way the puzzle pieces all fit together --- than the tight ends.
They have four seemingly NFL-caliber tight ends, nonetheless no two are the same.
How will they fit together?
Will they fit together?
Who will be organized in what formation and in what down-and-distance arrangement?
Will one player play more on first down? Another in goal line?
Will they stand a guy up a lot?
Will they deploy double-tights much?
So many questions with this group yet it was obvious, as the Steelers banged away under the midday sun on Wednesday, there could be something special with this unit.
There’s Pat Freiermuth, at 6 feet 5 and 258 pounds who can get out and cause secondaries fits but also sit down in the middle and provide an incredible target to clear some space for quarterback Kenny Pickett.
There’s Zach Gentry, who at 6-8, 265 might look like a glorified tackle, but upon quick inspection one speedily realizes his feet are far too nimble to simply be a lineman. His hands are too soft to also not be a pass catcher. He’s equal parts edge-sealer and pass-grabber.
“I like doing it all, to be honest,” Gentry said. “I know that’s boilerplate, but I really don’t mind putting my hand in the dirt and blocking. That’s been a big role of mine. I can run good routes and catch the ball too. That’s something I can help the team a lot with this year.”
There is Connor Heyward, a slapped together bowling ball of a young man who is that person to jump to the front of the line to want to do things rough-and-tumble.
Want to play physical and get down in the muck? Well, he will be your huckleberry for sure. At 6-feet even and about 230 pounds, his brutish strength and low center of gravity has him designated as a tight end but he’s more like a football player to be deployed where Matt Canada sees fit.
“I’m not just a traditional tight end,” Heyward said. “Honestly, we’re all just football players in that room.”
Then there is the wild card in all this. Rookie Darnell Washington who is raw, yet a mountain of a man and the kind of player --- at 6 feet 7, 265 pounds --- who isn’t supposed to gallop the way that he does. God made the Georgia rookie special, there’s no question. He’s a player you send off the bus first if you want the other team to notice you.
“He certainly has the physical ability,” Gentry said of Washington. “And he’s done a great job so far with the playbook. He came in very ready. He really doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. It will be a big first camp for him, but it will be just like any other rookie, it will be about getting through the first camp and making sure he stays healthy and mentally and physically sharp.
“He’s going to be just fine.”
And that’s the thing with this group, they are going to have to be, no matter how they get it done. Whether it is one of these guys having a great season and the others playing a bit role or, in some ways, all four of them making marked contributions and lifting Pickett to a solid sophomore season, there is a constant --- Canada’s offense will need great tight end play to function optimally.
Gentry knows as much. He also spoke to the work-in-progress quotient that has already taken hold.
“The more time you spend together, the more you kind of mesh and figure out everyone’s roles,” Gentry said. “We are definitely not lacking talent, which is nice. You can always build on things when you have the talent to push to the next level.”