I received a few emails recently asking me if I knew what kind of red zone threat new Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver James Washington will be in the NFL. That’s really a great question and in an effort to answer it, I figured I should contextualize every red zone target Washington had during his four years at Oklahoma State.
In his four years at Oklahoma State, my research shows that Washington was targeted inside the red zone a total of 41 times. Those targets resulted in 18 receptions for 149 yards and 11 touchdowns. However, it’s worth noting that two of Washington’s red zone touchdown receptions came via end-around plays that included him catching the football behind the original line of scrimmage via a short flip forward from the quarterback. Those two “touchdown receptions” accounted for 10 of his 149 receiving yards.
Washington was targeted quite often inside the red zone via fade routes to the right side of the field. That route, however, only resulted in three touchdown receptions on 14 targets. It’s worth noting, however, that a few of those incompleted fade routes to the end zone were the result of a nice play by a defender. Additionally, Washington actually caught four other of those attempts but did so just out of bounds. A few other incompletions on the end zone fade route attempts were poor throws and thus uncatchable. Another one was intercepted.
The other primary red zone targets Washington had during his Oklahoma State career came via quick slants or deep post routes. He also scored a red zone touchdown in 2017 off of a screen play.
On the whole, Washington was a productive red zone target during his career at Oklahoma State but it’s worth noting that you never really saw him leap very high in all of these targets. In case you forgot, Washington’s vertical jump at this year’s scouting combine was just 34.5-inches.
While Washington is likely to register some red zone touchdowns during his NFL career, I firmly believe that most of his scoring will come via deeper routes. I don’t think you’ll see him targeted on end zone fades quite often as a member of the Steelers
| GM | QRT | TME | DWN | DST | LOS | RES | YDS | DIR | DST | YAC | CONTEXT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 4 | 5:35 | 1 | 5 | UTSA 5 | I | 0 | NA | NA | 0 | NA |
| 2014 | 3 | 3:32 | 2 | 2 | ISU 10 | I | 0 | NA | NA | 0 | NA |
| 2014 | 1 | 11:37 | 1 | 10 | KSU 18 | C | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | Short curl right side |
| 2014 | 4 | 9:09 | 1 | 8 | TEX 8 | C | 8 | 3 | -4 | 12 | Flip forward end-around TD |
| 2015 | 1 | 3:17 | 1 | 7 | UTSA 7 | I | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 | Fade right EZ PBU |
| 2015 | 1 | 2:36 | 3 | 7 | UTSA 7 | I | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 | Fade right EZ PBU |
| 2015 | 2 | 1:02 | 1 | 10 | KSU 14 | C | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | Out route right side |
| 2015 | 3 | 9:36 | 1 | 4 | WVU 4 | I | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 | Fade right side caught OOB |
| 2015 | 1 | 12:19 | 1 | 3 | KU 3 | I | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 | Fade right side caught OOB |
| 2015 | 2 | 7:22 | 1 | 8 | KU 8 | C | 8 | 5 | 12 | 0 | Fade right side one-handed TD catch |
| 2015 | 2 | 15:00 | 1 | 10 | ISU 11 | I | 0 | 3 | 15 | 0 | MOF slant in EZ too high |
| 2015 | 4 | 11:50 | 1 | 10 | ISU 16 | I | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 | Comeback right side juggled OOB |
| 2015 | 4 | 5:07 | 3 | 15 | BAY 19 | C | 19 | 4 | 15 | 4 | In-breaking underneath TD |
| 2015 | 4 | 1:48 | 1 | 5 | BAY 5 | I | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | Switch route rub fade uncatchable |
| 2015 | 3 | 2:18 | 2 | 14 | MISS 19 | I | 0 | 5 | 22 | 0 | Deep corner route in EZ uncatchable |
| 2016 | 3 | 3:51 | 1 | 10 | CMU 17 | I | 0 | 3 | 22 | 0 | Deep post in EZ PBU |
| 2016 | 4 | 6:38 | 1 | 5 | CMU 5 | IN | 0 | 5 | 11 | 0 | Fade in right EZ off target INT |
| 2016 | 4 | 5:41 | 2 | 5 | CMU 6 | I | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 | Fade in right EZ off target |
| 2016 | 4 | 5:18 | 4 | 1 | CMU 2 | C | 2 | 3 | -4 | 6 | Flip forward end-around TD |
| 2016 | 4 | 13:49 | 2 | 14 | BAY 16 | I | 0 | 5 | 20 | 0 | Fade in right EZ PBU |
| 2016 | 4 | 15:00 | 1 | 3 | ISU 3 | I | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 | Fade in right EZ caught OOB |
| 2016 | 4 | 3:43 | 1 | 3 | ISU 3 | C | 3 | 5 | 7 | 0 | Back shoulder EZ fade TD |
| 2016 | 4 | 9:43 | 3 | 7 | KU 7 | I | 0 | 4 | 16 | 0 | Deep post in EZ through hands |
| 2016 | 2 | 4:35 | 2 | 19 | KSU 19 | I | 0 | 3 | 19 | 0 | Deep post to goal-line too high |
| 2016 | 2 | 3:50 | 2 | 3 | KSU 3 | C | 3 | 3 | 12 | 0 | Skinny post TD back of EZ |
| 2016 | 1 | 6:48 | 1 | 10 | TTU 19 | C | 10 | 5 | -3 | 13 | WR screen right side |
| 2016 | 1 | 6:32 | 1 | 9 | TTU 9 | I | 0 | 5 | 14 | 0 | Fade in right EZ juggled caught OOB |
| 2016 | 2 | 4:39 | 3 | 4 | TCU 8 | C | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | Quick out right right side |
| 2016 | 1 | 11:44 | 2 | 8 | COLO 17 | C | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | Quick curl right side |
| 2016 | 2 | 7:05 | 1 | 5 | COLO 5 | C | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | Quick slant right side TD |
| 2017 | 1 | 11:22 | 1 | 10 | TTU 14 | C | 14 | SIR | 14 | 0 | Quick slant to right for TD |
| 2017 | 1 | 5:25 | 1 | 10 | TTU 19 | I | 0 | SWR | 7 | 0 | Flushed out INC right sideline |
| 2017 | 1 | 5:16 | 2 | 10 | TTU 19 | C | 10 | SM | 4 | 6 | Quick slant from left |
| 2017 | 3 | 11:12 | 1 | G | TTU 9 | I | 0 | SM | 11 | 0 | Quick slant behind WR in EZ |
| 2017 | 2 | 15:00 | 1 | 10 | BAY 20 | I | 0 | SIR | 0 | 0 | Low WR screen right tight coverage |
| 2017 | 1 | 7:26 | 3 | 5 | WVU 13 | C | 13 | SIL | 0 | 13 | WR screen left for TD |
| 2017 | 4 | 12:28 | 2 | 1 | WVU 15 | I | 0 | DWR | 18 | 0 | Right fade to EZ in hands PBU |
| 2017 | 4 | 8:27 | 2 | 12 | WVU 19 | C | 19 | DWR | 20 | 0 | Right fade TD |
| 2017 | 1 | 8:24 | 1 | 10 | OKLA 15 | I | 0 | SM | 6 | 0 | Forced to underneath sitdown |
| 2017 | 2 | 14:33 | 1 | 10 | OKLA 16 | C | 10 | SWR | -1 | 11 | WR screen left side |
| 2017 | 4 | 9:01 | 2 | 7 | KSU 8 | C | 8 | SM | 12 | 0 | Slant route MOF EZ TD |
