
RENTON, Wash. — DK Metcalf never wanted to be anywhere else.
The Seahawks are the team that, after what felt like a long wait on draft weekend, took a chance on Metcalf with the 64th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. They were the team that surrounded him with veterans on offense and defense to help him develop from a young pup who got into a fight on his first day of practice to a 24-year-old veteran leader tasked with being the face of a rebuilding franchise.
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So, it makes sense that Metcalf had a quick reply when asked during a news conference Friday afternoon at Seahawks headquarters why he was eager to sign a multiyear extension with Seattle.
“This is my home,” said Metcalf, flanked by coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider inside the auditorium at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
This will be Metcalf’s home for the next four years now that the ink on his three-year, $72 million contract extension is dry.
“It’s a huge day for the Seattle Seahawks’ future,” Schneider said. “Big deal for DK as well. It’s cool to see everybody in the building coming out and celebrating today. We’re all very excited for DK and for his teammates and the organization moving forward.”
DK Metcalf, the $72 million man pic.twitter.com/4IlPB0IRmK
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) July 29, 2022
Schneider and salary-cap specialist Matt Thomas negotiated the contract with Metcalf’s agent, Tory Dandy, who also represents high-profile wideouts A.J. Brown, Mike Williams, Chris Godwin, Deebo Samuel and Marquise Brown. A.J. Brown and Marquise Brown were traded this offseason, and Samuel requested the 49ers trade him as well. There was no guarantee Metcalf would be in Seattle beyond this season. He skipped organized team activities and mandatory minicamp before conducting a “hold-in” the first two days of training camp, all because of his contract situation.
That was hard for Metcalf. He wanted to be on the field, not receiving calls from fellow receivers Tyler Lockett and Freddie Swain with details about how practice went that day. It was even harder for Metcalf to be in person watching training camp with tennis shoes on instead of the cleats he rocked at his news conference Friday.
“As much as I bluffed to John,” Metcalf joked at the podium, “I wasn’t leaving.”
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The Seahawks didn’t want him to leave. Moving on from Metcalf would have been a tough sell inside the building, too. It’s one thing to move on from Russell Wilson — he wanted to be traded, after all. It’s another thing to release Bobby Wagner, who turned 32 in June. And it’s an entirely different thing to try to instill a championship mentality after trading away a young star on the rise. Locking in a long-term deal with Metcalf sends the right message internally.
“We feel it throughout the organization,” Carroll said of re-signing Metcalf. “In the locker room, everybody — we know. We just made an announcement today, guys cheering for him. Everybody cares. It makes a big difference. The momentum you feel from a leader like this coming back to your club, knowing he’s excited about it and thrilled to be here, it just adds to all the energy of the group. It’s really important.”
Metcalf has a fully guaranteed base salary of $1 million in 2022. His $30 million signing bonus is prorated over the total length of the contract. He’ll carry a cap number of $8.8 million this season, which is 4.1 percent of Seattle’s salary cap. Metcalf’s salaries of $14.2 million and $13 million in 2023 and 2024, respectively, are guaranteed for injury and will become fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the league waiver period in those years. (So his 2023 salary becomes fully guaranteed in the spring, for example.) Metcalf’s 2025 salary of $18 million is not guaranteed. He’s scheduled to have estimated cap hits of $13.7 million in 2023 (6.1 percent of the cap), $24.5 million in 2024 (9.6 percent of the cap) and $29.5 million in 2025, according to Over the Cap.
In total, Metcalf’s deal is a four-year, $76.2 million contract when accounting for the old money he was scheduled to make in the final year of his original rookie contract. The new-money average, though, is $24 million, easily making Metcalf the Seahawks’ highest-paid player and one of the richest players at his position.
“Coming from Oxford, Mississippi, all the way over here to Seattle is a long journey,” Metcalf said, fighting through tears. “It really hasn’t hit me until now that I’ll have the opportunity to help so many people back home and help my family. Just thinking about when I broke my neck (in college) and I was told I wasn’t going to be able to play football again. This moment happening, it’s just all a blessing.”
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Seattle is paying Metcalf and Lockett a combined average of $41.2 million per year. The hope is that Metcalf and Lockett continue to be one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL. Since 2019, only the Rams’ wide receiver duo of Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods (6,708 yards) and the Bucs’ wide receiver duo of Godwin and Mike Evans (6,474 yards) have more receiving yards than Metcalf and Lockett (6,456), according to TruMedia.
Of course, Metcalf and Lockett tallied those stats while catching passes from Wilson, who in March was traded to the Denver Broncos. For at least the 2022 season, Metcalf will catch passes from either Drew Lock or Geno Smith. Metcalf said Friday he has already spent time catching passes from Lock, though they haven’t had much practice time together. Smith, who appeared in four games for Seattle in 2021, has already had a chance to show what he can do with Lockett and Metcalf at his disposal. Including the fourth quarter of a Week 5 game against the Rams, Lockett caught 17 of 27 targets for 196 yards (11.5 yards per reception) and had 10 first downs while playing with Smith last season. In that same span, Metcalf caught 17 of 21 targets for 251 yards (14.7 yards per reception) and four touchdowns.
“Both of them have strong arms. Their attention to detail is very good, and we see things a lot similar,” Metcalf said of his two quarterbacks. “Me, (Lock) and Geno all see routes the same and coverages the same. It’s going to be fun.”
Metcalf was the eighth receiver taken in his draft class. He started bawling upon hearing from Schneider over the phone on draft night, and his words were hardly audible by the time the phone was handed to Carroll. What was loud and clear, though, was Metcalf asking his coach, “Why y’all wait this long, man?” Metcalf was upset he wasn’t drafted higher, and feeling slighted in that way provided all the motivation he needed to prove he’s arguably the best wideout in his class. He leads the group in career receiving yards and touchdown catches. Only Diontae Johnson and Terry McLaurin have more receptions.
Metcalf insists the chip on his shoulder created from falling in the draft is still there, though, in part because he has another accomplishment to make on his checklist.
“My goal is to make it to the Hall of Fame,” he said. “Still not done.”
Metcalf is listed at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds. He’s one of the fastest players in the NFL. As far as mismatches go, Metcalf presents as tough a challenge as any for opposing defenses. He can take the top off a defense and commands double-teams on third down and in the red zone. Even with the quarterback situation in flux, Metcalf raises the ceiling on what Seattle’s offense can be in 2022.
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“We’ve always championed being explosive and getting the ball down the field,” Carroll said. “That’s why he was so important as an addition years ago. It just accentuates the explosiveness of our club. We want to be a balanced football team, but in our sense of balance, we want to be downfield and working. He’s the epitome. He and Tyler and our guys that we have going now and the guns that they’re throwing to … it fits together beautifully. We need to mix, and we need strike ability. What happens with DK is teams just don’t let him be by himself. They defend him. That gives us a tremendous edge on knowing what they have to do, because if they don’t, he’s getting the football. It’s a chess game we play, and he’s a magnificent player in that because he’s such an obvious factor.”
Where does Metcalf think his game can grow?
“Leading,” Metcalf said. “I know we already have great leaders like Tyler and Quandre (Diggs) and Geno and Al Woods. Them helping me and me helping them just lead by example. Vocal leaders be vocal leaders, and I’m going to do my part.”
(Photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)
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