The Seahawks WR room is as crowded as any in the NFL right now, featuring the likes of D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and this year’s Round 1 draftee Jaxon Smith-Njigba. While any of them could finish as Seattle’s WR1, there can only be one in 2023… and if 2022 was any indicator, that player could once again be Metcalf.
Despite Tyler Lockett averaging more points per game and scoring three more touchdowns in 2022, his route to doing so relied much more on exceptional efficiency than exceptional utilization. Despite seeing just nine end zone targets last year, Lockett scored 6 end touchdowns - meaning two out of every three end zone targets for him were touchdowns!
Metcalf, on the other hand, was the model of inefficiency, receiving a league-leading 22 end zone targets, but converting just five of those for touchdowns - just a 23% rate. Geno Smith clearly had a favorite target when he was looking to the end zone, with Metcalf more than doubling every other Seahawks player last year in end zone targets. If that continues this season and Metcalf can reel in those valuable targets at just a slightly higher rate, we could see 6 touchdowns in 2022 turn into double-digit scores in 2023.