3 veteran WRs hurt. This is Seahawks Halloween-costume winner Tory Horton’s shot
Is this about to be Tory Horton’s winning weekend?
The rookie wide receiver just won the Seahawks’ rookie Halloween costume contest inside team headquarters. Horton was a particularly fly character from The Boondocks, a social-satire series that airs on Netflix. He beat out center Federico Maranges in his tights, boots and cape superhero/pro-wrestling get-up.
Then Friday following practice, coach Mike Macdonald said veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp is questionable to play for the NFC West leaders (5-2) Sunday night at Washington (3-5). Kupp, the 32-year-old, ninth-year veteran who has 24 catches through seven games, had a lingering heel issue as he began practicing this week. Then he injured his hamstring in practice Thursday.
Jake Bobo also got hurt in practice this week. He is out for Sunday’s game. Dareke Young also will not play. He has an oblique injury.
“’Coop’ and Bobo just happened in practice. It’s unfortunate,” Macdonald said. “We’ll see with ‘Coop,’ and hopefully those guys will be back soon.”
That leaves NFL receiving-yardage leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Horton as the only healthy wide receivers on the 53-man roster.
And it leaves Horton in prime position for his best game yet.
The fifth-round draft choice from Colorado State has played nearly half of Seattle’s offensive snaps. Yet the star of Seahawks training camp has only nine catches in 189 plays through the first seven games. Smith-Njigba has gotten the majority of targets and catches from quarterback Sam Darnold. Smith-Njigba has 50 receptions for a league-leading 819 yards.
While also the team’s punt returner, Horton hasn’t had a catch since Seattle’s loss to Tampa Bay. That was three games ago. When he lines up for his first play Sunday night in Washington, he will be almost a full month removed from his last reception, Oct. 5 in the fourth quarter against the Buccaneers. His biggest contribution this season has been his team-record 95-yard punt return for a touchdown that sparked the Seahawks’ 38-point first hald and 44-13 rout of New Orleans in week three.
In the Seahawks’ most recent game, Horton was open down the field multiple times in the their win over Houston Oct. 20 before their bye week. Yet he had only three targets. Smith-Njigba had 14 targets and Kupp one amid Darnold’s 31 pass attempts against the Texans.
The majority of games in Horton’s rookie season so far have gone like that: Him open, the ball going elsewhere.
“There’s more opportunities there for him. I think that’s clear. That’s a fair statement,” Macdonald said.
Horton smiled Friday at his locker following practice when The News Tribune asked him about not getting the ball as much as he’s been open so far in his NFL career.
“I feel like that comes with being a receiver,” he said. “We go out there, we run routes every day, and sometimes the ball may not find you. But there’s other players out there making plays, and that’s what you want.”
Horton said his deep routes have opened space underneath for Smith-Njigba to make many of his catches. Horton likened that to his freshman season at Nevada, before he transferred and starred at Colorado State. Horton was teammates that season at Nevada with Romeo Doubs, now the second-leading receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
“I learned that even my freshman year playing behind Romeo Doubs at Nevada, it was some of those plays for me and I opened up plays for him,” Horton said.
“Not every ball goes to you.”
What Tory Horton’s learned
This time last year, Horton was in pain. His final season at Colorado State ended in October 2024 because of a knee injury.
This fall, he’s fully healthy. And he’s back in school, in a way.
Horton hasn’t just been running down the field open, not getting the ball and moping back to the Seahawks’ huddle.
He’s been studying the defensive backs covering him. He’s been learning the tricks defenses use in coverage that make the NFL so much more advanced than college football, such as teams showing Cover 2 (two-deep safeties) before the snap, then after it jumping to Cover 3 (single-high safety) or Cover 4 (quarters, four deep).
“Just the amount of disguises some secondaries could show and just the certain amount of rotation (of cornerbacks and safeties),” Horton said. “Coming from the Mountain West, you don’t see a whole lot of disguises and rotations. So that’s one of the bigger things (that’s different).
“It’s something that you pick up as you play. And that also comes from film study. So that’s something I’m picking up pretty quickly, and just trying to better my game after that.”
Macdonald went out of his way to praise Horton for his mentality being a former Big Man on Campus who isn’t getting the ball so far in the NFL with Seattle.
“Tory’s been great. He’s had a great attitude,” the head coach said. “There’s a sense of urgency about him. There’s an attention to detail.
“The veterans in the room have been great with him.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 2:57 PM.
