Nate Washington is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2005 and played on two Super Bowl-winning teams during four seasons with the Steelers. He then played six seasons for the Tennessee Titans before playing his eleventh and final season for the Houston Texans.

The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 74th season as a professional sports franchise and as a member of the National Football League (NFL). It was the 7th season under the leadership of general manager Kevin Colbert and the 15th and last under head coach Bill Cowher, as he retired on January 5, 2007. The team failed to improve on their 11–5 record from 2005 and also failed to defend their Super Bowl XL championship, Instead, they finished the season with an 8–8 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003. In the first half of the season, the Steelers record was 2-6. However, the team dramatically improved during the second half of the season, flipping their record from the first eight games and going 6-2 in their last eight.