RENTON, Wash. — As the Seattle Seahawks were rebuilding their wide receiver corps this offseason after trading DK Metcalf and releasing Tyler Lockett, an obvious question emerged: Does that group have enough playmakers?<\/p>\n
The question lingered once they waited until Day 3 of the draft to add to the position after signing veterans Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency, and it became more pronounced as Valdes-Scantling underwhelmed in training camp to the point that he was released on cut-down day.<\/p>\n
The question now stares the Seahawks in the face.<\/p>\n
When they play Metcalf and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium (1 p.m. ET, Fox), they\u2019ll do so coming off a season-opening loss in which they got a huge day from Jaxon Smith-Njigba but not much else from any of quarterback Sam Darnold\u2019s other pass catchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can definitely spread it around, but Jax has had a really good camp, and he was getting open, Sam was finding him,\u201d offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said. \u201cBut we do have a lot of good targets that we can get the ball to and do a better job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one doubts Smith-Njigba\u2019s virtues as the Seahawks\u2019 WR1, but the 17-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers did nothing to quell the concern that, with Metcalf gone, Seattle\u2019s receiver corps doesn\u2019t have enough threats beyond its primary option.<\/p>\n
All we know for now is how the Seahawks got here.<\/p>\n
Their decision to trade Metcalf was not a case of second-year head coach Mike Macdonald wanting to move on from a long-tenured player in order to build a roster full of \u201chis guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, as Macdonald was looking for an offensive coordinator to replace Ryan Grubb in January, Metcalf was top of mind, with the coach asking each candidate about his vision for the star receiver. Macdonald felt that Kubiak\u2019s system would fit Metcalf well, with its condensed splits giving him plenty of free releases, and with his physical style checking an important box for an offense that asks its receivers to be factors in run blocking.<\/p>\n
But Metcalf was up for a contract extension, and he had been unhappy.<\/p>\n
As ESPN reported in April, Metcalf had asked to be traded multiple times in recent offseasons before he did so again in March, this time allowing his request to go public. The Seahawks were planning for Metcalf to be a part of their future, and they still had six months to work out an extension before the season would begin.<\/p>\n
But in addition to the risk of a massive third contract, general manager John Schneider also had to weigh the downside of reinvesting in someone who was perpetually discontented. Among the reasons for Metcalf\u2019s unhappiness was that he had clashed with Geno Smith, according to sources familiar with their relationship. That led to some thought in the organization that Smith\u2019s trade to the Las Vegas Raiders would soften the receiver\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n
But Metcalf still wanted out.<\/p>\n
\u201cDK and I were having a lot of personal discussions,\u201d Schneider said after the trade. \u201cI thought we could fix it, handle it, whatever it was, and at the end of the day, it was a no, and he wanted to be traded. So we pivoted and moved forward. We want guys who want to be here, we want guys that believe in what we\u2019re doing, and you\u2019d have to ask him, one reason or another, he just wanted to move on and get a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to sources familiar with the situation, Metcalf effectively nixed a trade to New England, making it known that he wouldn\u2019t sign an extension with the Patriots; his preferred landing spots were the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n
The Seahawks sent Metcalf to Pittsburgh for the 52nd pick and a swap of late-round selections after the Steelers agreed to sign him to a four-year, $132 million extension that included $80 million in guarantees.<\/p>\n
With the money they didn\u2019t spend on Metcalf, the Seahawks signed Kupp (three years, $45 million), hoping the former Super Bowl MVP can stay healthy at age 32 after a series of injuries that led to his release from the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
Whereas Kupp\u2019s skill set has plenty of carryover to that of Smith-Njigba, two receivers who have primarily operated out of the slot, the 30-year-old Valdes-Scantling (one year, $4 million) was signed to help replace some of the speed that Seattle lost by trading Metcalf. Valdes-Scantling was also reuniting with Kubiak after spending the second half of last season playing for the coordinator with the New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n
But neither that connection nor Valdes-Scantling\u2019s speed translated to playmaking over the summer. While he was a nonfactor in training camp, rookie Tory Horton shined, beating out the veteran for the No. 3 job despite missing the final two preseason games with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
Horton wasn\u2019t targeted on any of his 28 offensive snaps against the 49ers. Kupp caught two passes for 15 yards, with his only other target resulting in a drop on third down, though his day could have been much more productive. Kupp drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone, extending the drive that would end with the Seahawks\u2019 only touchdown. He was also wide open near the goal line on Seattle\u2019s final offensive play, when Nick Bosa sealed San Francisco\u2019s win with a strip sack of Darnold.<\/p>\n
The Seahawks\u2019 tight end duo of AJ Barner and rookie second-round pick Elijah Arroyo give the passing game more threats, but they combined to catch only two passes for 7 yards on three targets in the opener. Running back Kenneth Walker III (three targets, three receptions, 4 yards) was also a nonfactor as a receiver.<\/p>\n
With virtually the entire passing game on Smith-Njigba\u2019s shoulders, he finished with nine catches for 124 yards on 13 targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think after looking back at it, that\u2019s where the ball should\u2019ve gone,\u201d Macdonald said. \u201cWe have plays designed for other people as well, but I think you\u2019re looking at a combination of Jax playing at a high level, being in a position where Sam can pull the trigger wherever he\u2019s at in the progression. But the ball will find its way around. I\u2019m convinced of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darnold confirmed that Smith-Njigba\u2019s massive target share was a function of where the quarterback\u2019s reads told him to throw the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just kind of how it worked out,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of games are different. Sometimes they\u2019re going to do things to take Jax, take Coop, take some other guys away from us, and so other guys have got to be on their p\u2019s and q\u2019s in terms of being able to beat one-on-one coverage. That\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re looking at this week, and it\u2019s going to be a fun challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jake Bobo, Seattle\u2019s fourth receiver, didn\u2019t play with a concussion but appears to be on track to make his season debut against Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Metcalf, who had four catches for 82 yards in his Steelers season-opening win, downplayed Sunday\u2019s matchup against his former team as \u201cjust another football game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether or not it\u2019s a so-called revenge game for anyone involved with Metcalf\u2019s messy exit from Seattle, it will be another early indication of how well the Seahawks are equipped to replace him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RENTON, Wash. — As the Seattle Seahawks were rebuilding their wide receiver corps this offseason after trading DK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,75842,514,75841,82],"class_list":["post-141078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dk-metcalf-sports-football-player-player-statscom-945633","tag-nfl","tag-seattle-seahawks-sports-football-team-team-statscom-361","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}