This offseason promised to bring big changes to the Seattle Seahawks, and those changes arrived in force on Wednesday. Just hours after announcing the release of stalwart receiver Tyler Lockett, reports surfaced that Lockett's long-time running mate, DK Metcalf, had requested permission to seek a trade.
Seahawks WR DK Metcalf has requested a trade, per source. The request came today after a series of conversations over the past two weeks. Metcalf prefers a contender.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 5, 2025
Lockett was a predictable cap casualty, given his decline in performance in recent years and his $17 million salary for 2025. Metcalf, on the other hand, is still squarely in his prime at age 27, one of the most physically imposing wideouts in the league who has averaged 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns per 17 games across his six career seasons. But his potential hasn't always matched up with his performance, or his ability to stay on the field, and Seattle has decided to deal him now and recoup some draft capital rather than pay up to keep him beyond this season.
But no matter how you feel about each decision in a vacuum, they amount to a massive sea change for the Seahawks offense. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is ready for a star turn, but beyond him there are nothing but questions, ones that will have to be answered both in free agency and in the 2025 NFL Draft. Here's how GM John Schneider might go about the latter, knowing that wide receiver just became a glaring need.
Round 1, pick 18: Donovan Ezeiruaku, EDGE, Boston College
Put the pitchforks down, Seahawks fans. Yes, Lockett and Metcalf moving on creates a dire need at receiver. But this is a funky draft class at the position, with scarce top-end talents but plenty of intriguing targets on Day Two and beyond. So rather than reach for someone like Matthew Golden or Luther Burden, let's give Seattle an edge defender out of Schneider's wildest dreams.
Ezeiruaku is also exactly the sort of versatile player up front that Mike Macdonald thrived with in Baltimore, an elite run defender who also moves shockingly well for someone his size (4.19 shuttle at around 250 pounds) and racked up 16.5 sacks at BC in 2024. The Seahawks have a need on the edge with Uchenna Nwosu's health a question mark and Boye Mafe set to hit free agency, and they can address other needs later on.
Round 2, pick 50: Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State
See, you didn't have to wait too long for Seattle to find its Metcalf replacement. Higgins isn't a one-for-one — very few players are, at least physically — but he's got exactly the size/speed combination you want to see out of a true X receiver in the Metcalf mold. He ran a 4.47 at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, and he's got the ball skills to win at the catch point even more consistently than Metcalf did. Plus, he's a savvy enough route runner to eventually become Geno Smith's new best friend.
Round 3, pick 82: Tate Ratledge, G, Georgia
Seattle is also in desperate need of help along the interior of its offensive line, one that they could very well address in free agency (or earlier in the draft with someone like Alabama's Tyler Booker). Here, though, the Seahawks wait a bit and land a true mauler in Ratledge in Round 3, after a standout career at Georgia in which he consistently moved people in the run game.
That's something the Seahawks could use a whole lot more of in 2025 and beyond, and Ratledge would bring a much-needed nastiness to this offensive line. It may not make up for the departures of Lockett and Metcalf overnight, but this would give Seattle a very solid offensive foundation on which to build moving forward.