It only took Tory Horton one dazzling play to prove the Seahawks right

Seattle Seahawks fans have heard about Tory Horton for seemingly a year now. In truth, it's only since he was chosen by the team in the fifth round of the 2025 draft. In training camp, he was a star, and in the regular season, he is turning into one.

Horton's quick return from a knee injury in his final year of college, coupled with his seemingly high football IQ, made veteran free agent acquisition Marquez Valdes-Scantling expendable. The move was a bit of a risk since MVS had experience working in offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's system, but promise outweighed the past.

The future is now, though. Horton caught a touchdown pass in Week 2 after not being targeted in Week 1. Week 3 was Horton's true coming-out party. He began by taking a punt on his own 5-yard line and turning that into a speedy 95-yard touchdown return. He was elusive and fast, and it was brilliant.

Tory Horton is already the Seattle Seahawks latest fifth-round steal

The return was the longest in Seahawks history, and the first since Tyler Lockett in 2015, when the Seattle icon was a rookie. The key moving forward might be for Horton not to want to return every punt, of course. Scoring once can actually lead to mental lapses.

But Horton was drafted to be a receiver, of course. He proved again that he is going to be a good one for a long time in Seattle. His first reception was a 14-yard touchdown reception when he ran a corner route, quarterback Sam Darnold dropped the ball in, and Horton outreached the defender.

It wasn't just a brilliant play that put the Seahawks up 28-3, but it was the definition of how one should run the route. Horton has height and speed, but he runs his routes already better than DK Metcalf ever has.

Ultimately, Tory Horton is going to make the trade of Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, worth it. Metcalf was bigger, faster, and stronger than most other receivers, but it always seemed like he could have done more in Seattle.

Horton isn't nearly as strong as Metcalf, but he is also seemingly going to reach his best level of production in a couple of years. He is certainly a valuable receiver for the Seattle Seahawks already, and is WR3. He and Jaxon Smith-Njigba could form one of the NFL's best receiving duos for much of the next decade.