If any wide receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers can relate to the benching Diontae Johnson received in the first half Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, it is James Washington.

Two years ago, in his rookie season, Washington had a memorable drop of a deep pass that could have gone for a touchdown against the Denver Broncos. The Steelers lost that game, and Washington was inactive the next week against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The way Washington handled his benching — he has missed one game since, and it was because of injury — and his emergence as a reliable target in 2020 make him a mentor of sorts for less experienced receivers.

“The things I went through,” Washington said, “I think I can lead guys the right way and make sure they don’t get down on themselves. Keeping them positive is the main thing.”

Washington credited a talk he had with Ben Roethlisberger as helping boost his confidence in 2018, and he wasn’t surprised the quarterback pulled Johnson aside at halftime Sunday. Johnson returned for the second half and had three of his four catches in the final 30 minutes.

“It’s definitely a good thing because of who he is to our team,” Washington said about Roethlisberger. “It lifts your spirits and lets you know he’s still thinking about you and that he wants you in there to be a guy that he’s throwing to.”

Washington had a chance for his confidence to be shaken earlier this season when he became the odd man out in a four-receiver, one-tight end formation the Steelers used to jump-start the offense. Washington stood on the sideline while Johnson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and Ray-Ray McCloud received the bulk of the snaps over several games.

Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said Washington’s versatility — he can play inside and out in most formations — made him a valuable utility receiver. It could have been taken as a slight by Washington, but teammates said he never pouted while playing less than 25% of the offensive snaps three weeks in a row.

“Not at all,” Smith-Schuster said. “James Washington is a guy that doesn’t matter if you put him in for five plays or 20 plays or 30 to 40 plays. He’s a guy who is always staying positive doing his job. He wasn’t getting reps early in the season, and now you see him emerging from it because he’s always been the same dude.

“If coaches want him to block, go in motion, be a decoy, score touchdowns, he’s always in a good mood and does whatever he can to help the offense.”

Lately, it has been scoring touchdowns for the Steelers, who’ve had them come in short supply in recent weeks. He scored on a 50-yard catch-and-run down the sideline against the Washington Football Team, and he followed it with a 19-yard touchdown reception Sunday that gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead.

With Johnson being benched for much of the first half and Claypool’s playing time being monitored at this late stage of his rookie season, Washington played a season-high 81% of the snaps against Buffalo.

“I think James has done a great job of stepping up when we needed him to, making plays, being physical when we needed to do that,” Roethlisberger said. “I think he’s being rewarded with more playing time from the coaches, and I think he should be on the field. We have a lot of playmakers. You can’t just let guys sit on the sidelines that potentially will help you.”

The strong finishing kick is nothing new for Washington, who has a career-high five touchdown catches despite being limited to 28 receptions for 372 yards. When he returned from his benching in his rookie season, Washington had half of his 16 catches and 140 of his 217 receiving yards in the final four games. That led to career highs of 44 catches and 735 yards in 2019.

“It wasn’t hard at all,” Washington said when asked about maintaining his confidence earlier in the season. “It is what it is. I’m just waiting for my opportunity, and anything I can do to help this team win, I’ll do.”

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