Heading into Seattle Seahawks training camp, which fully opens on July 23 in Renton, Washington, the roster is starting to take shape under first-time head coach Mike Macdonald. However, as a first-time head coach, you never know how he will go about shaping his team, which is why there are some pretty intriguing names that come up when you think about potential Seahawks trade candidates. And one of those names is star wide receiver DK Metcalf.
WR DK Metcalf
Let’s start by noting that the Seahawks making DK Metcalf a trade candidate isn’t highly likely, even though it does make sense for several reasons.
As a first-year coach, Macdonald of course enters Seahawks training camp wanting to win this coming season, but he also needs to plan for a longer term and evaluate what he has on the roster now to build for success in the future.
What he may see with Metcalf is a perennial 1,000-yard receiver in his prime who makes a ton of money. The WR has a $24.5 million cap hit this season and a $29.5 hit next year. And if Seattle wants to keep him long-term, they’ll likely have to give him an even bigger extension next offseason.
That is (and will be) a lot of money to pay a WR, especially one who is fringe top 10 in the league at best. The current NFL trend is to pay the best of the best WRs huge money and shy away from overpaying the rest.
Teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills have traded away big-money wideouts, and at least in the Chiefs case, they won back-to-back Super Bowls without Tyreek Hill.
Right now, the Seahawks are the polar opposite of that as one of the only teams in the league paying two WRs (Metcalf and Tyler Lockett) each over $18 million next season.
While Lockett is closer to the end than Metcalf is, the younger WR will command a lot more in a trade, which is why he makes this trade candidates list.
Also, with Lockett and the other young receivers, the Seahawks have — Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Dareke Yoiung, Dee Eskridge — the team could have a pretty decent receiving corps even without DK Metcalf.
Again, this isn’t highly likely, but Macdonald does come from a Baltimore Ravens organization that has never paid high-priced wide receivers, so you never know how he is thinking about this group.
RB Kenny McIntosh
The Seahawks are deep at the running back position, too, heading into training camp, which is good because as a defensive coach, Macdonald will surely want to run the ball effectively next season.
Unlike at wideout, Seattle has a stable of young, stud running backs on relatively low, incredibly valuable first contracts. There is no way the team would even consider trading Kenneth Walker III or Zach Charbonnet this season.
However, RB3 Kenny McIntosh is a slightly different story. The former Georgia back is definitely talented, but there seems to be no way he will break the Seahawks RB rotation in a meaningful way this season barring a major injury.
If that’s the case, the Seahawks may want that third back role filled by someone who is more of a specialist like undrafted rookie Kobe Lewis, who is an excellent kick returner as well as a solid back. If that’s the case, the Seahawks may be able to get a valuable mid-round pick for a player who is not in their plans anyway.
CB Coby Bryant
The other place the Seahawks have a surplus of talent is in the secondary. Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, and Michael Jackson are all excellent starters at cornerback with players like Artie Burns, Tre Brown, and fifth- and sixth-round rookies Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James behind them.
At safety, Rayshawn Jenkins and Julian Love are the starters with K’Von Wallace, Ty Okada, and Jerrick Reed behind them.
Currently, Coby Bryant is likely in that backup safety mix and can play CB as well, which is what he came into the league as. He was decent as a rookie, playing in 17 games and starting six, but last year he struggled with injuries and only played nine game.
The thing is, while Bryant can do a lot of things on a football field, there is a fine line in the NFL between being versatile and being a tweener, a player without a true position.
If the new Seahawks coaching staff sees Bryant as the latter in training camp, he could become a trade candidate for another team looking to bolster their own secondary ahead of the 2024 regular season.
Follow Us
Subscribe