The regular season is over, and while the Seattle Seahawks 2019 rookie class was underwhelming as a whole, receiver DK Metcalf proved the doubters wrong with an excellent campaign, hauling in 58 receptions for 900 yards and seven touchdowns.
Metcalf’s 900 receiving yards was third among rookies, behind his former college teammate, A.J. Brown, as well as Terry McLaurin.
Additionally, Metcalf and Tyler Lockett (1,057 yards) became the third duo in Seahawks franchise history to each accrue 900 or more receiving yards, joining Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham (2016) and Joey Galloway and Brian Blades (1995).
Metcalf was originally projected as an early to mid first round pick, but concerns about his limited route-running dropped him all the way to the final pick in the second round, where Seattle traded up to acquire his services.
Concerns about the route-running proved inconsequential, as Metcalf excelled in a variety of roles for Seattle.
“We don’t have any problem with moving him around and asking him to do different things,” coach Pete Carroll said on Monday. “Blocking on different levels and running all kinds of routes. He’s just been a really diverse player for us, which is rare with a young guy. Usually, the young guys come in and they have kind of been taken care of all along where they’ve been in systems where they don’t have all of that background, so they have a lot of stuff to learn and you can see the inexperience in guys. He doesn’t play like that at all.”
Metcalf’s 58 percent catch rate was perhaps his biggest flaw, as drops at key times often killed drives. However, his relationship with Russell Wilson blossomed in the second half of the year. Across the team’s final eight games, Metcalf had a team-high 498 yards on 35 receptions, along with a 63.6 percent catch rate.
The rookie still has some work to do to reach his potential as an elite x-receiver, but the early return is extremely promising for the Seahawks, who really needed another weapon on the outside to pair with Lockett and Wilson.
