The NFL rumor mill is a weird place, especially in the middle of draft and free agent season. Agents and team executives commoditize anonymous reports in hopes of generating bigger and better offers for players and teams. Reporters, occasionally overzealous in search of a scoop, can quickly have headlines deflated by deflections or denials that snuff out a story.
On Monday, those reports began to swirl around Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf. Metcalf’s place in Washington is uncertain thanks to the rebuild that traded away Russell Wilson and the fact he’s set to hit free agency in 2023. That makes him a prime trade candidate. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport revealed teams had been in contact with the Seahawks about swinging a deal for the massive wideout.
If that’s the case, however, it’s the first Metcalf is hearing about it.
Haven’t heard anything, per @dkm14 https://t.co/S5CBHrDCjP
— DK Metcalf (@dkm14) April 4, 2022
That’s right, Metcalf splashed cold water on fans’ trade dreams while citing his own Twitter account as his source. In one move, the fourth-year pro announced he’s not expecting a trade while proving he’s happy to take this all in stride and play the offseason rumor mill game just like the rest of us.
That doesn’t mean that Rapoport’s report is inaccurate, of course. Teams could have called about Metcalf and been hung up on. Offers could have been made that were summarily rejected. Some needy franchises may have raised the specter of a trade to the point where Seattle had no choice but to discuss it internally, but opted not to bring it to the wideout until it was more than just a brainstorm.
NFL teams are almost certainly calling about the asking price on Metcalf, an occasionally-unguardable physical specimen built by “three, four bags of candy” per day. The Seahawks are rebuilding and any team in need of a game-breaking receiver would be stupid not to. But nothing’s progressed to the point where Metcalf has gotten involved.
And we’ve got that from a pretty reliable source: DK Metcalf.
