Georgia tight end Darnell Washington gets his championship rings during the UGA G-Day spring football game. Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cowboys urged to make head-scratching trade for titanic Steelers weapon

Originally posted on Dallas Cowboys on SI
By Matthew Schmidt | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 11:56 AM ET

The Dallas Cowboys have already done business with the Pittsburgh Steelers once this offseason, linking up for the George Pickens trade. But could the Cowboys pry another weapon from the Steelers?

Jerry Trotta of The Landry Hat thinks so, proposing that Dallas attempt to acquire tight end Darnell Washington from Pittsburgh following the Steelers' blockbuster trade that landed them Jonnu Smith (as well as Jalen Ramsey) from the Miami Dolphins earlier this week.

At 6-foot-7, 265 pounds, Washington is an imposing figure, to say the least. However, he hasn't gotten the chance to produce much behind Pat Freiermuth in Pittsburgh, so now with Smith in tow, his targets are sure to dip even further.

But would Washington actually be able to get touches with the Cowboys? Trotta outlines a scenario in which he feels that could occur.

"The Cowboys, meanwhile, have starter Jake Ferguson entering the final year of his contract and could very easily move [Luke] Schoonmaker to a TE-needy team," Trotta wrote. "Washington could be in line to start as soon as next year if Ferguson leaves as a free agent. At the very least, he'd compete for the starting job with ascending second-year man Brevyn Spann-Ford."

Dallas flirted with the possibility of drafting Washington back in 2023, but the Cowboys opted to take Schoonmaker instead. But would they really want to bring in Washington at this point?

Ferguson is definitely in line for a bounceback year, and it seems hard to envision Dallas wanting to bring in an unproven tight end when it already has Schoonmaker and Spann-Ford on the depth chart.

If the Cowboys do ultimately trade Schoonmaker (which is a possibility), it would be strange for them to go out and swing a trade for Washington. This seems unlikely, to say the least.

This article first appeared on Dallas Cowboys on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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