DK Metcalf is the face of the Seahawks franchise. That’s not a bad thing. He is an effervescent player who is physically capable of doing things the rest of us mortals cannot, and he appears to have a lot of fun while playing football.
But Seattle still needs more from Metcalf in 2022. So far this year, Metcalf has just one game with more than 88 yards receiving. He has zero games with multiple touchdowns. In the one game he did have with more than 88 yards receiving – 149 yards in Week 4 versus the Lions – Metcalf didn’t score a touchdown even though the offense scored 41.
Metcalf is on pace for 130 targets, though. This would be a career high. So, if you might be thinking that Metcalf isn’t as productive this year because he is seeing the ball less, you’d be wrong. Also, fellow receiver Tyler Lockett has 6 fewer targets this season than Metcalf but one more touchdown and 59 more yards.
3 takeaways from Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf in Week 10
Observation 1: The offense wasn’t built for DK but that’s kind of OK
In Seattle’s Week 10 loss to the Buccaneers, Metcalf was targeted 9 times. That is the third-most this season. He caught 6 of the targets for 71 yards and no touchdowns. Metcalf was on the field on 90 percent of the Seattle offensive snaps, however, and that was his most since Week 5.
For Seattle’s offense to truly work the way offensive coordinator Shane Waldron wants it to work, the team needs to run the ball very effectively, though. Metcalf can be brilliant but the offense isn’t designed for him to create explosive plays without help. Against Tampa Bay, Seattle couldn’t run and therefore the offense was a lot more stagnant.
While Geno Smith is having a great season, he is also less likely to force passes to Metcalf as well. Smith is using his tight ends more effectively than Russell Wilson ever did and Smith is throwing to running backs as well. This is what the offense is supposed to do and it’s been mostly effective this season. Metcalf is a key part of the offense but it can also be good when he isn’t, just not in Week 10.
Observation 2: DK Metcalf’s temper still hurts the Seahawks sometimes
Was DK Metcalf called for possibly the worst unsportsmanlike penalty in the history of unsportsmanlike penalties in Week 10? Arguably, yes. In the first half after a pass attempt to Metcalf that could have been called pass interference and might have resulted in a touchdown for the Seahawks (or at least put them close to the end zone), Metcalf said a couple of words to the nearest official and then Metcalf started walking back towards the Seattle sideline. However, the official kept following Metcalf and actually touched Metcalf so Metcalf turned around and said something and a flag was thrown.
A few things. What was the official doing exactly? The official seemed to instigate the reason for the flag. And nothing Metcalf seemed to be worthy of throwing a flag. Seattle had to move back 15 yards because of the flag but at least kicker Jason Myers made a 55-yard field goal after the penalty.
this is why DK Metcalf got a 15 yard penalty last drive https://t.co/3ymVQIJisd
— alex (@highIightheaven) November 13, 2022
The issue, though, with Metcalf is that this isn’t the first flag he has had thrown on him for unsportsmanlike conduct. Since his rookie season, he has had three penalties for that. Maybe Metcalf’s reputation for being ornery with officials or fellow players somewhat went into the flag being thrown? Metcalf has also been penalized since 2019 for taunting, unnecessary roughness, a facemask call (which was really due to unnecessary roughness) and was actually disqualified once in a game due to non-play activity.
DK Metcalf is a great player with a great personality. But his actions on the field have cost his team yards and field position far too much. His passion is great but he needs to reign it in a bit.
Observation 3: The Seahawks need DK to have a breakout game
I am going to get back into something I was saying in the opening slide of this article. That is, Seattle needs Metcalf to have a breakout game and not just with yards but also multiple touchdowns. The offensive design works well but it needs all facets of the scheme to be working at the same time. Seattle proved it can’t just try to force the run against the Buccaneers. But if a team isn’t afraid that Geno Smith will take some chances on throwing deep to Metcalf, in particular, then a defense is going to play guys closer to the line.
Metcalf is big enough and fast enough to be able to create space between he and a receiver. Tyler Lockett seems to do this quite a bit and while Lockett is quick, he isn’t big and strong like Metcalf. Of course, Metcalf also doesn’t have Lockett’s hands and tends to drop a few more passes a year than Lockett. Maybe Metcalf would do more with his targets if he caught more of them. For instance, Lockett has caught 76.1 percent of his targets this season while Metcalf is at 62.3 percent.
But while the Seahawks don’t need to be airing it out to Metcalf six times a game, doing it a few times a game with success should be part of the offensive design. Metcalf has the one game of over 100 yards receiving this team when he had 149 versus the Lions. But the Lions defense was so awful then that Lockett also almost had 100 yards receiving (he had 91) and running back Rashaad Penny ran for 151 yards. Metcalf has five (!) games this year with fewer than 40 yards receiving and that simply needs to change.
A good running game should help a team throw deep passes more as teams would have more one-on-one coverage on the backend of the secondary. But a team throwing the ball successfully deep also helps the run game. Metcalf needs to be more available to help Geno Smith throw deep and that is only going to help the offense overall.