3 observations about DK Metcalf from the Seahawks Week 15 loss

Observation 2: The Seahawks need DK Metcalf to be more creative

Metcalf is not the player many thought before he was drafted in 2019. A lot of “draft experts” thought Metcalf was more of a gimmick. Basically, they saw him as an extremely physically gifted human being who may not be able to translate that into being a good NFL player. But they were wrong and Metcalf many times is a great player.

Metcalf can run route trees better than people expected. This year he has developed more of an ability to catch passes over the middle of the field and be more of a possession receiver. He still needs more looks on designed post patterns as Metcalf’s ability to run past defenders is part of what separates him from more mortal receivers. But the offense under coordinator Shane Waldron might simply not be designed to have many of those kinds of plays.

This means Metcalf needs to find ways on his own to beat one-on-one coverage. While he did catch 7 of his 9 targets against the 49ers, he only turned that into 55 yards. That equates to just 7.9 yards a reception and that is far too little for a receiver like Metcalf. The Seahawks need more from him and he needs to turn those short passes into explosive plays.

Metcalf has done that in the past but has done that many fewer times in 2022. I am not sure why this has happened, though. DK Metcalf is on pace to set personal bests in passes caught in a season (he currently has caught 79 and his best is 83) and catch percentage (he has caught 66.4 percent of his targets and his best before this year is 64.3 percent). But he is averaging a career-low 11.7 yards a catch and only has 6 touchdown receptions so far. His career-low for that is 7.