DK Metcalf on a new Seahawks contract: ‘We are going to get something done’
For Seahawks fans, the Scooby Snacks T-shirt was almost as good as what the guy wearing it said.
Two days after his coach gave his clearest statement yet that the Seahawks would get him a new contract soon, wide receiver DK Metcalf said he and his team “are going to get something done” on a new deal before the 2022 season begins.
“I will say, we are going to get something done,” Metcalf said on Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe’s podcast for Fox Sports.
“I think I am going to be in Seattle for the next coming years, yes, sir.”
The 24-year-old Metcalf became a 2020 Pro Bowl selection when he set a Seahawks record with 1,303 yards receiving. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He signed that after Seattle traded up into the bottom of the second round to get him in the 2019 NFL draft.
Metcalf’s draft classmate and former University of Mississippi teammate A.J. Brown just got a $100 million, four-year deal from Philadelphia in a trade from Tennessee to the Eagles last weekend. It was the latest example of how the market for wide receivers has skyrocketed this offseason. That has Metcalf in line for at least $25 million per year for 2023 and beyond.
That might sound prohibitively expensive for the Seahawks — today. But their buying power is about to soar.
The league’s salary cap is going from $182 million last year to $208 million per team this year to perhaps $225 million or more in 2023. The NFL’s new media-rights revenues split evenly among its 32 teams kicks in next year when Metcalf’s new contract will begin.
Plus, the Seahawks no longer have to pay Russell Wilson. They traded their franchise quarterback to Denver in March. Wilson’s contract ran through the 2023 season. This time next year he will be seeking a new deal likely to be worth at least $50 million annually, what Aaron Rodgers re-signed for with Green Bay this offseason.
That’s now Denver’s matter, not Seattle’s.
Last weekend at the end of the draft, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he, his team and Metcalf remain all positive toward a new deal by this summer.
“We’re really communicating great. And DK, we’ve been (on) a great wavelength to move forward,” Carroll said. “And hopefully it will all work out.
“We don’t plan on him going anywhere else. We want him to be with us.”
Metcalf recently got out of the walking boot he’d been in since surgery this winter on his foot. The procedure repaired an old injury that flared up during practice early last season. Metcalf continued to play through the pain in 2021 while taking midweek practices off.
“He has started his running, as well,” Carroll said.
“He is in a total rehab mode right now.”
The Seahawks plan for Metcalf to be ready for training camp. That begins at the end of July.
He might be re-signed by then or soon after. The Seahawks in a dozen years under Carroll and general manager John Schneider have routinely finalized contract extensions with core players in the summer before their final contract year.
With the less-accomplished Christian Kirk commanding $18 million per year from Jacksonville this offseason and the top-of-the-market Tyreek Hill now getting $30 million per season after a trade from Kansas City to Miami, Metcalf’s worth is likely around Brown’s $25 million per year.
The top five wide receivers in average annual salary are Hill, new Las Vegas Raider Davante Adams ($28 million per year), Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins ($27.25 million per), Brown and Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs (an average of $24 million).
Diggs is four years older than Metcalf and coming off seasons with a league-leading 127 then 103 catches. Diggs got $70 million guaranteed this month on a $96 million, four-year extension with the Bills.
Other top wide receivers are seeking to take advantage of this newly set market at their position. Deebo Samuel has reportedly asked the San Francisco 49ers to trade him. Brown in Tennessee and Terry McLaurin in Washington were skipping the start of their team’s offseason workouts last month.
Metcalf? He showed up last week smiling at team cameras while reporting for the start of the first phase of the Seahawks’ offseason program at their facility.
“It was a great statement for our guys,” Carroll said. “He is back in the rehab mode, but he wanted to show that this is his place and he has a responsibility to it, as we do, also. “I thought it was a great start to the offseason.”
Offseason schedule announced
The Seahawks announced their schedule of practices for the next two months.
Their rookie minicamp is Friday through Sunday at the team facility in Renton. It will be the first time on Seattle’s fields for ninth-overall pick Charles Cross as the team’s new left tackle, plus his eight draft classmates and assorted undrafted rookie free agents and tryout players.
Organized team activities — voluntary offseason practices with veteran players participating — are May 23, 25, 26, 31; June 2-3 and 13-15.
The mandatory minicamp for veteran players is June 7-9.
Germany game?
The NFL is expected to announce on Wednesday its international games for the 2022 season.
In March the NFL announced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be hosting an International Series regular-season game in Munich, Germany, this fall. One of the Seahawks away games this year is at the Buccaneers.
That — and Schneider joking the week before the draft about how his German language lessons have progressed — have fueled speculation the Seahawks are going to be playing the Bucs in Munich, perhaps in mid-November.
The Seahawks have played one regular-season game in Europe. They beat the Raiders in London in 2018.
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 11:33 AM.
