Not long after conducting a free agent visit, James Washington has found his next NFL home. The veteran receiver is signing with the Saints, reports ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (Twitter link). 
Fowler had previously noted Washington’s planned Monday visit to New Orleans (on Twitter), so it comes as little surprise that he is now agreeing to join the team’s new-look passing attack. The Saints represent the fourth career team for the former Steelers second-rounder, and the third that he will see playing time with.
Washington, 27, seemed poised to become the latest homegrown Pittsburgh wideout to turn into a high-end contributor early in his career. His second season, in 2019, saw him post a 44-735-3 statline, and he followed that up with five touchdowns the following year. The Oklahoma State product had an underwhelming campaign in 2021, however, and departed the Steelers in free agency.
He signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys last offseason, giving him an opportunity to reaffirm his status as a capable deep threat on an offense which lost Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson that offseason. However, a foot injury limited Washington to just two games with Dallas, and he was waived near the end of the season. The Giants signed him shortly thereafter, but he did not make any appearances with them. Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football tweets that the 5-11, 213-pounder is now healthy, though.
Washington will now look to start over in New Orleans, a team which had a highly productive rookie campaign from 2022 first-rounder Chris Olave. He is in line to operate as the top wideout for the Saints as they begin the Derek Carr era, with former All-Pro Michael Thomas available as potential difference-maker, if he can remain healthy this season. Washington will look to carve out a role amongst the likes of the recently re-signed Tre’Quan Smith, former Raider Bryan Edwards and rookie A.T. Perry with the Saints.
I for one would really like to see James thrive. Great personality, hard worker, has some skills. For whatever reason it just never clicked for him in Pittsburgh.
Injuries, mostly. Unfortunately for Washington, the elements outside of his control were not favorable either, with Ben’s injuries and age taking their respective tolls. Much more than that, the rapid deterioration of the Steelers’ line grossly warped the offense (and Ben’s production). Washington got hurt and had trouble with stepping up to help carry the offense. JuJu never took another step forward as expected and Brown exploded, and there was no one there to help give Washington the time he obviously needed to develop past his shortcomings.
I’m not saying that it wasn’t Washington’s “fault” at all. I am saying that, in a “normal” Steelers’ 2010 era offense, he may have had a chance to fix or hide his shortcomings better as his role wouldn’t have been as crucial. Being a second round pick certainly didn’t help the disappointment.
I agree and think this Saints offense is a decent landing spot for him. Washington seems best suited as a number 3 guy, primarily used as a deep threat. Which is basically what he was drafted to be in the Steelers offense but unfortunately for him his time in Pittsburgh coincided with Ben’s rapidly declining ability to throw a good deep ball. Derek Carr won’t have that problem, Olave is the clear number 1 for the team and if Thomas is healthy he’s the reliable veteran number 2 which allows Washington to run deep posts from the slot.
An example of a guy with “potential” that somehow never turns into stardom.