Leading up to and immediately after the NFL draft, in which the Seahawks traded up to take Metcalf with the final pick of the second round, he was perhaps known just as much for his hulking physique as he was for what he did on the field at Ole Miss.
But this spring, he was more than merely a physical specimen. Wilson pointed to Metcalf’s football knowledge when asked what about the rookie wide receiver has stood out most.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
“Everybody knows about his ability to run and everything else, and jump and catch and all that,” Wilson said. “You guys have been talking about that for months, but I think more than anything else, it’s his brain and how he processes information and how quickly he understands it. He’s really intelligent. He really understands the game really well. He takes coaching really well. He gets extra work. He’s a legit pro wide receiver. He’s everything that everybody was talking about in terms of what he’s capable of and more.”
Metcalf, at 6-foot-3 and 228 pounds, has looked like a professional receiver during offseason work, so much so that it was easy to momentarily forget about all the concerns over his route running, lateral agility and NFL readiness. Metcalf ran a blazing 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the combine but produced less impressive results in some of the agility drills. He managed 26 catches for 569 yards and five touchdowns before a neck injury ended his final season at Ole Miss after only seven games.
Now, for the mandatory pumping of the breaks. The usual caveats about offseason practices apply here. The noncontact format — Seahawks defensive backs weren’t fully contesting catches — sets pass-catchers up to shine. And there are a few cautionary tales from recent Seahawks past about getting too excited over an impressive spring from a rookie receiver.nike nfl jerseys cheap china
In 2010, it was Golden Tate, who arrived with similar fanfare as a second-round pick coming off an All-American season that earned him the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver. He made play after play over the spring and summer and looked poised for a strong rookie season. He was benched in Week 1 and finished the year with only 21 catches.
Carroll has theorized aloud that Tate’s football development was stunted in college because of the double duty he pulled as an outfielder on Notre Dame’s baseball team, which took him away from spring practices. Tate readily admitted years after the fact that he was skating by on his athleticism as a rookie and didn’t really understand the finer points of the position.
