From where Seahawks rookie Tory Horton was last fall to now? ‘He’s special’
Normally a punt boomed deep, close to the goal line, is not one a returner should be catching.
Especially not a rookie in his third NFL game.
The conventional wisdom is to let punts that soar inside your own 10-yard line drop and roll. Chances are the rolling ball is going to cross the goal line into the end zone for a touchback. Start the drive at the 20, the thinking goes, instead of trouble and possibly worse inside your own 5.
But Tory Horton?
“He’s special,” teammate and running back Kenneth Walker said Sunday.
Guess so
Horton began his fourth NFL punt return Sunday by, yes, catching the ball at his own 5-yard line against the New Orleans Saints at Lumen Field.
Does he get a minus from special-teams coach Jay Harbaugh for that?
“Uhhhhh...,” he said, with a sheepish grin, “I kinda do.”
Then again: When he looked up, what did he see?
“Shoot,” Horton said, “green grass.”
A full field of it.
Horton took off left with the ball. He got a springing block from cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett. He turned up the field.
From there he pretended he was back growing up in his hometown of Fresno, California, in the yard with friends.
“Playing sharks and minnows,” he said.
“Got to weave through some. Some you’ve got to knife through.”
This was both.
Still untouched nearing midfield, the fifth-round draft choice from Colorado State saw teammate Chazz Surratt sizing up Kai Kroeger. Surratt is a linebacker. Kroeger is the Saints punter.
“Oh, yeah,” Horton said. “I knew he was going to take him out for me.”
Surratt steamrolled Kroeger into the turf. The poor punter was the last Saints player who had any chance of coming close to Horton.
No one did. The daring rookie ran untouched for a 95-yard touchdown. The longest punt return in the 50-season history of Seahawks football sparked Seattle’s 38-point first half and a 44-13 runaway from New Orleans Sunday at Lumen Field. The Seahawks’ previous punt-return record was 94 yards, by Charlie Rogers in 1999 and shared by Nate Burleson from 2007.
“I had space, you know,” Horton said. “And I felt I kind of had the little green light there.
“I just saw opportunity.”
His punt-return score midway through the first quarter put Seattle ahead 14-0. It was an example of why the Seahawks drafted Horton, even though he was months removed from a season-ending knee injury that ended his college career at Colorado State last October. It was also another example of why Harbaugh got a game ball from head coach Mike Macdonald following Sunday’s win.
The special-teams coach had worked with Horton and the punt-return team on the same situation and same Saints coverage arrangement in practices this past week.
“It was a rep that we worked on,” Horton said. “I just wanted to make the best out of that.”
When Horton got the sideline, fellow Seahawks wide receiver Jake Bobo came up to the gasping rookie.
“Ninety-five yards, they said?” Horton asked Bobo at the bench.
“Yeah, it was,” Bobo said.
“No wonder I was so tired,” Horton told him. “I just ran the whole field!”
Bobo’s response: “Go get you another one.”
The rookie did that, too.
Tory Horton TD catch
Early in the second quarter, with the Seahawks leading 21-3, Horton was lined up to the right as the last Seahawk on that side in a bunch formation. Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry was lined up opposite him, shading the wide receiver’s outside shoulder to the sideline. Yet Horton was quick enough off the snap to beat McKinstry decisively to the outside.
With leverage to the sideline, Horton used his sub-4.4-second speed in the 40-yard dash to run past the cornerback to the end zone. Quarterback Sam Darnold recognized Horton’s advantage and lofted the ball perfectly over McKinstry to Horton for a 14-yard touchdown.
Horton’s third touchdown in five quarters since the start of Seattle’s week-two win at Pittsburgh pushed the Seahawks’ lead to 28-3.
“Sam is a hell of a quarterback,” Horton said. “He put that ball on the money.
“That’s something that we kind of worked on a little bit here and there.”
Horton said of his quarterback who was 14 for 18 passing for 218 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers and a passer rating that was perfect for most of the game Sunday: “He’s on top of his game. He sees a little crease and he’s going to put it where it needs to be.
“That’s something that you want from a quarterback. That awareness, that smart mindset on the field, he kind of takes that place. It was a great ball. Shout out to Sam.”
Then the rookie pulled a veteran move: He credited the blockers that rarely get credit.
“Shout out to the offensive line for holding up,” Horton said of the line that allowed no sacks of Darnold, and has allowed just three of the QB in three games. “It doesn’t get started without the offensive line, so shout out to those boys.” Horton’s first NFL catch was the previous week, from Darnold at Pittsburgh. It went for a touchdown to end the game’s first possession of Seattle’s 31-17 win.
Darnold, the eight-year veteran, has noticed how even-keeled Horton has been in his first three NFL games.
“I think just how steady he is,” Darnold said. “Even having a good game in Pittsburgh, catching that touchdown, (he) was still eager and hungry this whole last week, wanting more and just asking a ton of great questions.
“Like, I’ve talked a ton about Tory, but he’s just continuing to grow. I know he’s going to continue to get better and want to get better. I think that’s the biggest key as a young player, is just having that want to get better and understand the offense even that much more.”
Tory Horton’s comeback
Then again, why would Horton not try to take full advantage of every opportunity — even punts to his own 5-yard line?
About this time last year, he wasn’t sure he would ever play football again.
A complicated knee injury he got in his final season at Colorado State required surgery. He was hearing doubts he would get drafted, that he would miss too much of the pre-draft scouting process to attract notice from NFL teams. Now?
“Silence the doubts,” he said Sunday. “I had a lot of doubts coming into the combine (in March).” He told The News Tribune this summer he was “in a very dark place” last winter. He was in his college apartment in Fort Collins, Colorado, unable to play, unable to know what was next.
His 22nd birthday coincided with Thanksgiving break last November. He went home from Colorado State football to Fresno. That holiday weekend he spent at home started his turnaround. He gives all credit to his mother Zezette, father Tim, oldest sister Danita, older sister Jeane plus older brothers Tim Jr. and Tyler. Jeane plays volleyball professionally overseas, after an All-American college career at Texas-El Paso. Tyler was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference defensive back at Boise State 2015-18. Tim Jr. has served in the U.S. Army. They cheered Tory up and strengthened him over Thanksgiving. He ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in March, even though he said this summer his knee was at about 70% of full health.
Now? As he showed to the camera of TNT photographer Brian Haynes in the middle of celebrating with his teammates in the other end zone to finish his punt-return TD, everything is AOK.
“Finally get to prove myself,” Horton said Sunday. “Just going out there and competing, that’s something that I am really proud of myself by.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 7:59 PM.
