Dk Metcalf slated to be a top receiver in 2020

Dk Metcalf was something of an enigma coming out of college. He had the height, weight and speed of the receivers most teams only dream about. At 6'4 225 lbs he ran a 4.33 40 yard dash, had a 40.5 inch vertical and put up 27 reps in the bench press. These numbers display a player who is nothing short of a freak athlete, one of those once in a generation type prospects. Guys a lot smaller have run slower, taller guys haven't jumped as high, and bigger guys have benched less but this is a guy who left college having caught only 67 passes for 1,228 yards and 14 tds in 3 seasons. He also suffered a neck injury that cut his redshirt sophomore season short. All of this added up to raise some doubts about the polish he would have at the next level as a wide receiver. 

Despite putting up monster numbers in high school as a receiver his college career seemed to show that he had a lot of growth to do at the position which made him all the more interesting as a prospect in my eyes. Much to my surprise Metcalf fell out of the first round, and nearly fell out of the second round, ultimately being selected 64th overall. He was the 9th receiver taken, with several picked above him not producing nearly as much as he had his rookie season. He started off slow but went on to start 15 games for the Seahawks and help lead them to a post season berth. He caught 58 passes for 900 yards and 7 tds, nearly matching his 3 year totals from college. He went on to dominate in the playoffs playing in 2 games putting up 11 receptions, 212 yards and 1 td. Impressive stats for a rookie receiver deemed as raw coming into 2019. However I only see better things to come for Metcalf. 

In Seattle's offense that haven't had a true number 1 receiver outside of Doug Baldwin in years. They flirted with the idea of Josh Gordon taking that role, they used Jimmy Graham as a kind of defacto top target, and even tried to force feed targets to Tyler Lockett. However none of these guys are the type of receiver you want leading an offense at this point in their careers. That's where Metcalf comes in, after a solid rookie season, he steps into 2020 as the team's number 1 target with Tyler Lockett, Phillip Dorsett, and David Moore there to serve as complimentary pieces, while the offense still runs first and passes second. Chris Carson, Carlos Hyde, and Rashod Penny will be fighting for Carries but all of this adds up to Metcalf getting the spotlight in the passing game. As a rookie he was second on the team in targets, receptions, yards and tds to Tyler Lockett. However Lockett is 5'10 182 lbs and sees playing time as a runner, receiver and return man. Keeping him fresh and not wearing him out as the top receiver would benefit several facets of this team. To put that into perspective Lockett had the most touches of his 6 year career in 2019, despite producing career highs in yards, and receptions he produced career lows in: average yards per kick return and punt return, as well as negative yards on carries. He also saw the second lowest yards per reception average of his career making a strong case to give him less touches and let him be more explosive through out the year in the return and rushing game while Metcalf soaks up the extra 10-20 targets a year at receiver which in turn provides him with a better chance to succeed. Throughout Metcalf's football career he has shown that the more an offense focused on him as a top target the more he rewarded them with in return. In high school the man put up 224 receptions for 3,364 yards and 49 tds. He graduated and goes to college where they worked him into the offense slowly. His redshirt freshman year he caught just 2 passes for 13 yards or 6.5 yards per catch, the following season he had 39 receptions for 646 yards and 7 tds or 16.6 per reception while playing second fiddle to Aj Brown and others. In his redshirt junior season the offense began to work through Metcalf and it showed, in 7 games he had 26 receptions for 569 yards and 5 tds for an insane 21.9 yards per reception. Fast forward to 2019, again he is playing second fiddle this time to Tyler Lockett, and he goes on to average 15.5 yards per reception and a little over 80 yards per game. 

With all this in mind the title of this article was not intended toward the status on his own team but the status of him versus the league as a whole. I truly believe Metcalf will be a top 5 receiver in 2020. I could easily see this guy catching 70-75 passes, putting up 1,200-1,400 yards and 10-12 tds. Which could spell another deep post season run for the Seahawks, this time on the strength of their offense.