RENTON, Wash. — No Tyler Lockett. No running game in sight. No margin for error left in the season.
Most will look to Geno Smith to play savior for the Seahawks on Saturday, and though eyeing the quarterback is valid, there is another offensive weapon I think bears that burden.
Receiver DK Metcalf is supposed to be the star receiver — the man whose A-list ability earned him a contract reserved for All-Pro producers. And though he has dazzled regularly, he hasn't dominated consistently. That can't be the case in this upcoming showdown vs. the Chiefs. The Seahawks to the playoffs? Only if their investment in Metcalf proves to be a payoff.
In July Metcalf signed a three-year, $72 million contract that came with a $30 million signing bonus and a guarantee of $58.2 million. His annual salary of $24 million is tied for sixth-most among NFL receivers.
Has his production matched the moola? That's questionable.
Metcalf's 924 receiving yards are 16th in the NFL, his 79 receptions are 11th, and his career-low 11.7 yards per catch ranks 58th. His six touchdown passes, meanwhile, are on pace to be the lowest since his rookie season in 2019, although his game-winner vs. the Rams at the beginning of the month may make up for the relative scoring dearth.
In short: The quality of the statistics haven't been on par with the size of his contract. Even analytics site Pro Football Focus, which ignores conventional stats and grades players on a per-play basis, ranks Metcalf as the NFL's 15th-best receiver. His PFF score of 79.1 is the second-lowest of his four-year career, though not far off from the 82.5 he put up in his second-team All-Pro season in 2020.
So has DK been a disappointment? We haven't even mentioned the three unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties he has drawn in the past five games, something Seahawks coach Pete Carroll chalks up to him "freaking competing like an elite performer with the highest expectations." Two of these 15-yard flags occurred in one-score losses.
But there are other factors to consider when discussing the Ole Miss product — namely that his mere presence impacts the offense regardless of whether he is being targeted. You can't knock a lockdown cornerback's interception total if he isn't being tested — just as you can't slam a defensive lineman's sack count if he is being triple-teamed.
Metcalf's blend of size and speed is close to peerless in the NFL, meaning he incessantly draws double-teams and impacts the game in ways the stat sheet will never show.
"He's going to garner a lot of attention. Every single game, we can expect that," Smith, the QB, said Wednesday. "But I expect DK to play with the same fire and passion that he always does. I expect him to go out there and have a really good game."
It's almost impossible to think the Seahawks can win if he doesn't. This is a team, remember, that hasn't rushed for more than 90 yards in a game since beating the Cardinals on Nov. 6. This is a team that is without Lockett — Seattle's leading receiver this season — who is sidelined because of a broken hand. And most significantly, this is a team facing an opponent in the Chiefs (11-3) that leads the NFL in yards and points per game.
The Seahawks need their highest-paid player to show why he got that paper.
Metcalf's answers to questions about playing without Lockett were pretty vanilla Tuesday.
"I'm just going to continue to go out there and continue to play football," he said. "Whatever the defense does, I'm just going to continue to run my route and just try to beat whoever is in front of me."
It's when he was asked about his string of unsportsmanlike penalties that the responses got a little spicier.
"When I'm beating someone's ass like I do when I'm blocking, sometimes the officials don't like that," Metcalf said, although his most recent penalty was for taunting, not blocking. "I'm just going to continue to play football how I know how to play it, and that's in between the whistle. You can't stop that."
He'll probably have to stop what he's doing at some point if he wants to prevent potential wins from slipping away. But Saturday won't be about stopping the way he's playing — it will be about being unstoppable.
Can Metcalf be that? That was the assumption when he signed that contract last summer — and it's what will likely be necessary to save the Seahawks' season.
