New Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald wants to make DK Metcalf ‘a moving target for defenses’

When DK Metcalf entered the NFL Outside of the University of Mississippi, there were concerns about how he would transfer into the league. Metcalf operated almost exclusively as a boundary receiver, running slants, hookups and routes. And when he posted a bad three-cone time at NFL Scouting Combine, these concerns have reached a fever pitch.

Metcalf ended up falling to the end of the second round, where the Seattle Seahawks snatched him with the 62nd overall pick. And Metcalf quickly made pre-draft concerns look a little silly. His outrageous athletic skill set and monstrous frame allowed him to succeed in the NFL in ways he hadn’t been asked to do in college.

In his first five seasons, Metcalf caught 372 passes for 5,332 yards and 43 touchdowns, making the Pro Bowl twice and making the All-Pro Second Team. He also collected at least 900 yards and at least six touchdowns in each season, a feat matched only by AJ Green and Randy Moss.

It’s not surprising, then, that Metcalf’s new coach — former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald — has a strong desire for Metcalf to be heavily involved in the offense this upcoming season, and in a slightly different way than he has been. was in the past.

“I can tell you one thing: we also really want to give the ball to DK,” Macdonald told NFL Media. “It’s different now when 14 is available. He’s a big, imposing, fast, powerful receiver. We’re really excited about that. We’ve been talking about it since we got here in February – plans for him and Tyler [Lockett] and Jaxon [Smith-Njigba] and Noah [Fant] and our backs. And what that would look like and how we can move guys around and make DK a moving target for defenses where they’re going to have to account for him all the time, but he’s going to be hard to find.”

Moving Metcalf more often would be quite novel. The table below shows Metcalf’s alignment (left wide receiver, slot or right wide receiver) in each of his five seasons, according to Pro Football Focus. As you can see, he had a very strong bias to the left side of the field, much like he did at Ole Miss. And he rarely moved for the spot.

Metcalf has not been particularly effective during his career when lined up in the slot. According to TruMedia, he has had just one season north of 1.5 yards per route run when operating inside, and has had two seasons (including 2023) where he averaged less than a yard per route. On the outside, though, he’s averaged at least 1.81 yards per route run in every season of his career and has exceeded 2 yards per route twice — including 2023, when he hit a career-best 2.28 yards per route. perimeter route.

It’s clear that Metcalf will now play in a very different offensive system than the one he played in for much of his career. The Seahawks’ offensive coordinators during their time in Seattle were Brian Schottenheimer and Shane Waldron, who often used run-first approaches under head coach Pete Carroll, and operated on the slower side of the spectrum in terms of offensive tempo. New coordinator Ryan Grubb’s teams at the University of Washington have had one of the highest pass rates in the country the past two years and have operated at a much faster pace.

Perhaps a change to the system would also produce greater effectiveness for Metcalf when he enters; there are many burly players who have had a lot of success in the slot. But given his body type and skill set, it may be best for Metcalf to remain primarily on the perimeter, but with a more even split in his left-right alignment and a more diverse route tree than he’s become accustomed to in his career. . date.