For most of the Seahawks offseason, the focus has been on rookie wide receiver DK Metcalf, who was selected with the final pick in the second round of the NFL draft. With Seattle’s No. 1 wide receiver – Doug Baldwin – no longer on the roster, expectations have been high for the rookie as he enters his first year.
Despite the hype around Metcalf, the Seahawks do have other options to assist Tyler Lockett in the receiving corps, namely veterans David Moore and Jaron Brown, both who have had impressive starts to training camp. Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire took a look at some compelling camp battles around the league and Moore vs. Brown stood out.
“Doug Baldwin’s retirement robbed the Seahawks of their best receiver just as Russell Wilson became the NFL’s richest quarterback,” Farrar writes. “Now, with near-perfect target Tyler Lockett moving up a notch and second-round rookie D.K. Metcalf lighting things up in practice with his athleticism, there’s still a need for a receiver who can at least approximate Baldwin’s otherworldly route-running and field awareness. Moore did a bit of that for the Seahawks, primarily as an outside guy with some speed, and he’s challenged by Jaron Brown, the veteran who caught a career-high 31 passes for 477 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals in 2017. Brown caught just 14 passes for 166 yards for Seattle in 2018, but five of those receptions were touchdowns.”
Both veterans have the chance to make the most of their opportunities this summer and Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has taken notice.
“Jaron Brown, I think Jaron Brown year two, probably underutilized him last year, I probably did,” Schottenheimer said Friday after practice. “We as a staff did. He does everything right, you see him doing all the dirty work in the running game, he’s physical, all the details that he does, he hit the big play out there today. David Moore, talked about him in the spring, we’re moving him around, he’s playing different spots. If there’s a more athletic, powerful guy off the ground, hard to find those guys.”
The training camp battles continue Monday when practice kicks off at 10:15 a.m.
