DANNY AND GALLANT

Huard: Cade Johnson is Seahawks’ best UDFA signing and a steal at WR

May 3, 2021, 12:52 PM

Cade Johnson Seahawks...

Cade Johnson took part in the Senior Bowl. (Photo by Senior Bowl/Collegiate Images/Getty Images)

(Photo by Senior Bowl/Collegiate Images/Getty Images)

Wide receiver was a clear position of need for the Seahawks in the 2021 NFL Draft, and they wasted no time addressing it by taking speedy Western Michigan receiver D’Wayne Eskridge with their first pick in Friday’s second round.

O’Neil: What we learned about the Seahawks from their draft picks

Eskridge may not be the only rookie the Seahawks added over the weekend who could have a big impact, however.

For former Seahawks QB and current NFL on FOX color commentator Brock Huard, atop the list of undrafted players Seattle reportedly agreed to sign following the draft is another talented wideout.

“Cade Johnson, the kid out of South Dakota State, is a little baller,” Huard said Monday morning during the daily Blue 42 segment on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant.

Huard is familiar with Johnson from calling one of his games in college in 2019.

“I watched him against Minnesota a couple years ago in the opener and they couldn’t cover him,” he said.

Johnson, who topped 1,000 yards twice in his three seasons with South Dakota State and caught 17 touchdowns in 2018, may not be the fastest receiver out there, but he was regarded highly enough that it was expected he would get drafted in the middle rounds. He also gets a lot of comparisons to one of the Seahawks’ best receivers.

“Kept looking at him and listening to people… he’s a poor man’s Tyler Lockett. He’s not quite as fast but just an incredible football sense,” Huard said. “I was frankly very surprised he went undrafted. There were lots of people mocking him as a fourth-round pick, fifth-round pick. So to see him go undrafted, there either maybe was a medical (concern), who knows, or he was just a 4.6 (seconds in the 40-yard dash) guy on too many stopwatches in a deep receiver class.”

Huard has confidence Johnson could prove to be a steal for the Seahawks, and he also likes what his decision to go to Seattle signals.

“Time and again those 4.6 guys that know how to play compensate for that extra step (faster receivers get). He’s a guy that’s going to have a tremendous shot and he shows me some smarts and wisdom because of all the places he could have gone, and I’m sure there were many of them, he said, ‘Nope, let me go to Seattle. I don’t care that they took a second-round pick (receiver). Look at that receiver room there, I’ve got an opportunity to make that team,’ and I think that will be his mindset coming in.”

You can hear Huard’s full thoughts on Johnson plus more of his reaction to the Seahawks’ draft in the podcast at this link or in the player below.

Follow Brent Stecker on Twitter.

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Huard: Cade Johnson is Seahawks’ best UDFA signing and a steal at WR