Heaps: The change with DK Metcalf that has made Seahawks so explosive

The Seahawks haven’t quite yet reached the midpoint of their season, but DK Metcalf is already approaching or even matched some of the numbers he put up in 16 games as a rookie in 2019.

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The impressive second-year wide receiver had 58 receptions for 900 yards and seven touchdowns last season, but he’s up to 36 catches, 680 yards and another seven TDs in seven games so far this season. The Seahawks’ offense is flying as high as it ever has, too, leading the NFL with 34.3 points per game, 2.7 more than the next best team.

While it’s easy to point to Seattle unleashing quarterback Russell Wilson and the passing game for that, there’s more to the story. Metcalf has turned out to be a perfect complement to veteran receiver Tyler Lockett (49 catches, 575 yards, seven TDs), and Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer shed light this week on why those two have been so dynamic in 2020.

Jake Heaps expanded on Schottenheimer’s thoughts during Friday’s edition of Tom, Jake and Stacy. Let’s look at what they both had to say.

Seahawks OC Brian Schottenheimer

“What’s different this year than last year is our ability to move DK around. … DK you saw early on (in 2019) was gonna be a really good player, he hits his stride kinda late, but we can do so much more stuff with DK now. Year 2, more comfortable in the offense, more comfortable running all the different routes that we do – I think that’s what makes it hard on the opponent. It’s not the fact that the two guys (Metcalf and Lockett) are out there. There’s other teams that have really good tandems of receivers, but I think it’s that we can move them around and put them in different spots. They’re almost interchangeable in a lot of ways.”

Jake Heaps

“Why is (what Schottenheimer pointed out) so important? The ability to move guys around, the ability to move DK and Tyler around, you can find your mismatches. You can make sure that they are not isolated in one spot where they are an easy target to manipulate coverage towards (so) they can get double teamed. And that’s why teams have had such a difficult time covering these two. It’s not just that they’re very talented. It’s the fact that they are smart and can be moved and utilized in a bunch of different ways to attack defenses. It constantly puts (opponents) on their heels, and that has been the biggest difference this year. A, their ability to do that knowing the playbook, but B, this offense and Brian Schottenheimer getting more creative in placing those guys in different spots.”

You can hear Heaps’ full comments in the Four-Down Territory segment in the podcast at this link or in the player below.

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