Bump on Seattle Seahawks WR Tory Horton: ‘Give him the ball’

Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is off to another torrid start, becoming just the second player in NFL history with at least 400 receiving yards and six touchdown catches through the first three weeks of a season.

What’s behind Seahawks’ short-yardage rushing struggles?

But outside of Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks are waiting for another wideout to emerge as a bona fide No. 2 option. Cooper Kupp is the team’s next-leading receiver with eight catches for 101 yards and a TD, while Rashid Shaheed has just six catches on 12 targets for 53 yards.

Could second-year wideout Tory Horton help fill the void? Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus thinks so after watching Horton’s performance on Sunday.

Despite playing just 15 offensive snaps in his second game back from injury, Horton hauled in three catches on three targets for 48 yards in Seattle’s 33-31 loss to the Washington Commanders.

All three of Horton’s receptions resulted in first downs. And on two of them, he made a nice adjustment to snag an off-target pass thrown behind him.

“I understand that you paid Rashid Shaheed a lot of money and you’ve got to get some more bang for your buck, but get (Horton) in the football game immediately and start using him,” Bumpus said during a Four Down Territory segment on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“He’s a better route-runner than Rashid Shaheed. He has good hands. If he can stay healthy, he could be the number two.”

Of course, health is the big question mark with Horton.

A 2025 fifth-round draft pick, Horton exploded onto the scene last season with 13 catches for 161 yards and five touchdowns over his first eight games. However, the second half of his rookie campaign was wiped away by a cracked tibia. And after a strong start to training camp this summer, he suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for Week 1.

Horton made his long-awaited return in Week 2 and then matched his career high for receiving yardage in Sunday’s Week 3 loss to Washington.

Horton played limited snaps the past two weeks while easing back into action, but Bumpus thinks it’s time to make the former Colorado State star a bigger focal point on offense.

“Tory Horton is ready to go,” Bumpus said. “Give him the ball.”

Listen to the full Four Down Territory segment at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More Seattle Seahawks coverage

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• Stacy Rost: Which Seahawks concerns are real, and which aren’t
• Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba off to historic 3-game start

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