Who Should I Start? Darnell Washington or Blake Whiteheart

Thursday, November 20, 12:26 AM

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington continues to trend upward, and he'll look to carry his momentum into Sunday's Week 12 contest against the Chicago Bears. Washington played 71 percent of the offensive snaps last week, which was his highest mark since Week 6. He also caught four of his five targets for a season-high 67 yards, delivering the first double-digit scoring total (PPR) of his career. Washington does still have some competition for targets from Jonnu Smith and Pat Freiermuth, but it appears that he has surpassed both of them in the pecking order given his volume and workload over the last few weeks. Washington is right up there with DK Metcalf as Aaron Rodgers' favorite targets, which will give him some low-end TE1 upside in deeper leagues going forward. Perhaps the more important question for this week is whether Washington will be catching passes from Rodgers, who missed Wednesday's practice with a thumb injury, or Mason Rudolph. Either way, he's a top-25 tight end in fantasy football, and he has top-15 upside against a Bears defense allowing the eighth-most receptions to the position in 2025.

Monday, April 7, 7:38 PM

Exclusive-rights free-agent tight end Blake Whiteheart signed his tender offer from the Cleveland Browns on Monday and will officially return to the team in 2025. Whiteheart will head into his second season in Cleveland after catching six of nine targets for 51 yards and one touchdown in 11 games (two starts) in 2024. The 25-year-old once again won't be anywhere near the fantasy radar as he provides depth at the position for the Browns behind starter David Njoku. He went undrafted out of Wake Forest and began his NFL career in 2023 with the Arizona Cardinals, but he didn't receive a single target in two games played that year. In addition to Njoku and Whiteheart, the Browns also have Brenden Bates and Tre'McKitty on the TE depth chart this offseason.