The path to the starting lineup is never easy for a seventh-round pick. Deep positions like wide receiver don’t get much easier with new faces joining the fray every year, and the lack of control in opportunities at the position.
The Seattle Seahawks have made significant investments at wide receiver this offseason, including a few late-round picks with Mountain West stars Tory Horton and Ricky White III. Toward the top of the depth chart, Seattle brought in veteran free agents Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdez-Scantling. That’s exactly how depth pieces like Dareke Young get buried on the depth chart.
Young, a 2022 seventh-round pick, has primarily served the Seahawks on special teams, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been trying to climb the depth chart at receiver, too.
Even with the deck stacked against him so heavily with all of the new faces on top of those he recognizes with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo, Young has been making his case throughout training camp that he deserves a spot on the 53-man roster.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Dareke Young is turning heads in a crowded receiver room
According to reports from The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar on Tuesday’s practice, Young showed out with a few impressive plays, including a 35-yard touchdown he snagged over Damarion Williams. He picked on Williams again later, picking up a first down over the middle. The final mention included a deep play-action connection with Jalen Milroe.
.@DarekeYoung4's got motion. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mAGUTDzRge
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) July 30, 2025
Young is getting looks and making the most of them, which is all a receiver can do early in camp. Still, in his fourth camp with the franchise, Young needs more than one stellar practice to secure a roster spot. The Seahawks will likely keep five or six receivers, which ramps up the pressure for Young.
Smith-Njigba, Kupp, Valdez-Scantling, Horton, and White III make five, making for a tight race between Young, Bobo, Steven Sims, Cody White, John Rhys Plumlee, and a couple of undrafted free agents, Tyrone Broden and Montorie Foster.
Coming from 2024, Young already has a disadvantage to the front-runner of the second group to get that sixth spot, Bobo. Bobo played in all 17 games last year and contributed on offense and special teams, playing over 300 snaps for each unit.
Young played in 14 games and logged 231 snaps on special teams and just 27 with the offense. In the same vein, Bobo got 17 targets last season, while Young has just three in his career, two of which came in his rookie season.
The uphill battle doesn’t get any easier, even with some standout performances. Bobo has earned trust from the coaching staff that is hard to overlook when final cuts come. But if Young continues to impress, both on offense and on special teams, he can give the decision makers a tougher time choosing who stays and who goes at the end of camp.