Huard: Why Seahawks could have NFL’s top WR room in 2023
Jun 10, 2023, 1:53 PM
Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the 2023 NFL Draft. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks wrapped up mandatory minicamp this week, and it’s starting to become more clear which positions will be strengths for the team in 2023.
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One position group on offense stands out to former NFL quarterback Brock Huard, and he thinks that group could be the best in the NFL.
“The receiver room,” Huard said during Friday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.
Seattle has had a good receiver tandem for a while now, starting first with Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett in the mid-2010s. Baldwin retired after 2018, and the Hawks added DK Metcalf in the 2019 NFL Draft, and he quickly became a star.
Since then, Metcalf and Lockett have been one of the NFL’s best receiver tandems, but the Seahawks have struggled to develop a go-to No. 3 receiver behind them.
That appears to have changed this offseason as Seattle used its second first-round pick on Ohio State standout Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a 2021 All-American.
“I am, like many, mesmerized when I watch Jaxon Smith-Njigba,” Huard said of the 20th overall pick. “And Pete Carroll had pretty high praise of him (Thursday) as well, just talking about his overall athleticism and how easy he makes things look. And when you hear DK and Tyler sing his praises, it isn’t just false chatter … I think I’ve heard enough of these guys over my lifetime to know when they really respect a rookie, when it’s like ‘this guy’s good.'”
For Huard, two words come to mind with Smith-Njigba – natural and fluid.
“There’s just things that come so natural to him. And whether that’s high-pointing a ball, whether that’s releases off the line of scrimmage, whether that is still the speed to outrun Devon Witherspoon on that little vertical switch release that we saw the other day … and obviously catching the ball is just so natural,” he said. “… So fluid.”
“Rookie receivers can come in this league – especially the well-versed ones – and it doesn’t take them as long as it used to take them,” Huard later said. “And if he comes in and makes an impact that he’s capable of – as I said yesterday, 50-plus receptions – and add it with DK, add it with Tyler, I know the Bengals have got a deep receiver room and I know there’s some other good ones, but they’ve got an opportunity to compete with the very best.”
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