Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf joined the NFL’s digital rookie seminar along with 547 other players and gave rookies some advice, speaking from the experience he gained from his own debut season last year.
Metcalf stated that former Seahawks defensive back Mo Kelly told him to take things one day at a time and learn as much as he possibly could.
“I think Mo told us in our rookie meeting: ‘Don’t sit nowhere. Let everybody come in first and sit down. Then you find your seat last,'” Metcalf said via Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. “So that really set the tone for the year and how to approach everything. Just wait my turn and soak up as much knowledge from the vets as I could.”
Metcalf also believes rookies should be conservative with their money and spending habits.
“The easiest way to manage that is just to know where your money is going and who has control of it,” he said. “Be proactive and know where your money is going, how you’re spending it, get a budget.”
Perhaps most importantly, Metcalf stated that criticism is natural because analysts will always find something to scrutinize no matter how gifted a player seems.
“I told some guys it’s a good thing and a bad thing, because what I learned last year about the whole draft process is people are looking for something bad to point out about you no matter what it is,” Metcalf said. “So the less opportunity teams had to nitpick anything you did wrong was a better position for you. But for the guys who didn’t get invited to the combine, who only had a chance to show what they could do at pro day, that’s the other bad part about it, so there’s two ways you can look at it.”
Metcalf himself will be expected to make strong contributions to the Seahawks offense as he attempts to take a significant second-year jump.
