Welcome to the terrible take a mini podcast telling Steelers Nation what's on our mind.

I'm Josh Carney.

If you were a bit disappointed seeing some of the clips early on from OTA's mini camp

and even the first few days of training camp of Pittsburgh Steelers' rock, early on you weren't alone.

He had a relatively slow start to his tenure in the Black and Gold.

The last two days in training camp, though, which happened to be padded practices, have been

rather strong and have that excitement surrounding Washington

skyrocketing once again. With the pads on, he's a different player.

That animal we saw on tape at Georgia the last two seasons, it's showing itself again.

Sometimes football isn't meant to be played in shorts and shirts.

Washington is proof of that. Since the pads came on

Washington has had two very strong days overall in late rope. Tuesday the first

padded practice for the Steelers, he won both reps against TJ Watt in the

Backsun-Backer's drill, earning praise from head coach Mike Tomlin.

Later that day, he boxed out cornerback James Pierre for a touchdown in a team session.

Washington continued his strong play Wednesday as he went up for a ball over Safety Miles Kilibru like it was a rebound and ripped it down for a score in a team session.

He also had a strong day as a run blocker overall and is starting to look the part for the Steelers.

He remains a work in progress overall at the position, especially from a route running perspective.

But with the pads on, he looks like an entirely different player.

That's a positive development for the Steelers, who need that physical presence offensively.

It's still early in training camp, and there's still a long way to go until September.

But Washington has ratcheted up things in the pads.

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