RENTON, Wash. _ The news on Friday was supposed to center around arrivals. But the chief headline was about a possible departure.
Shortly after the Seahawks selected receiver DK Metcalf with the last pick of the second round, ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted out a link about another Seattle pass-catcher. The lede? That Doug Baldwin may have played his final down.
No official announcement has been made, but it's no secret Baldwin has been dealing with a series of injuries. And though he continues to rehab at the Seahawks' practice facility, the outlook seems ominous.
What can you tell us about Doug? a reporter asked Seahawks general manager John Schneider.
"We know Doug is going to have a hard time," he said, adding that Baldwin has brought up the idea of retiring to the team. "There's a process we need to go through with Doug."
In 2011, Schneider wrote Baldwin a letter after he went undrafted. He acknowledged how frustrating not being picked up must have been, but emphasized the upside he saw in him. What ensued over the next eight years were two Super Bowl appearances, two Pro Bowls and a single-season touchdown reception title.
Baldwin once flipped off former Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell when he called a play that forced him to throw. That was in jest. But the finger he gave to expectations throughout his career? That was anything but.
The truth is, going undrafted may have been the best thing to happen to Baldwin. He seemed to feed off slights more than anyone on his team. If you wrote or said anything critical, you'd hear about it. He established that right away.
When Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter called Baldwin and teammate Jermaine Kearse "appetizers", and told them to Google him, Baldwin responded with this after the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
"He told me to Google him. I saw that he was a Hall of Famer. I didn't see any Super Bowl appearances. I would love to show him the Super Bowl ring, and if he doesn't want to come and see it personally, tell him to Google it."
A few days after Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders said that Baldwin was just "aight," a TV reporter asked Baldwin about his performance after beating Green Bay in the NFC Championship game. His response?
"I don't know, that's just what pedestrian, average mediocre receivers do. My man Deion Sanders, we aight? We aight? Yeah, we aight. We're going to the Super Bowl again being aight."
The thing about Baldwin, though, is that he doesn't hold grudges. He'll say his piece once and the beef is squashed. He's generally been comfortable letting his game do the talking _ and sometimes, it spoke into a megaphone.
In 2015, he led the NFL in touchdown catches with 14. Ten of those receptions came over a four-game stretch. Jerry Rice is the only other player in NFL history to do that.
As Kearse said of the feat: "That's the definition of ballin'."
In time, Baldwin's off-the-field actions became almost as prominent as those on the field. He'd speak about police violence. He'd write op-eds about prison and bail reform. People may have disagreed with the actions he called for, but given all the time he spent talking to law enforcement, politicians and other members of the community, you couldn't say he ignored opposing views.
With all the mountain-sized personalities that have come through the organization, you can't say there's a quintessential Seahawk. Marshawn Lynch is nothing like Richard Sherman. Richard Sherman is nothing like Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is nothing like Earl Thomas. That kind of variety is what made those Super Bowl teams so intriguing.
But Baldwin might be the team's blueprint for what you can achieve when most of the world has given up on you.
He went from undrafted to productive, "appetizer" to champion, "aight" to Pro Bowler.
Will he ever play again? It sure doesn't sound like it.
But then again, this is Doug. He has a damn good record against the odds.
