Coming out of college in 2019, the knock on wide receiver DK Metcalf was that he had elite athleticism, was a long-term injury risk due to a neck problem, and was a poor route runner. The first part was true. Metcalf is strong and fast and was available for almost every game over six seasons.
The ability to run crisp routes is more murky, though. He could cut routes, so physical ability was not a problem. Any issues he had appeared to be mental.
2024 was arguably Metcalf's worst season. He had a career-low five touchdown receptions, but what compounded any concerns the offense had was that Metcalf often failed to cut his crossing routes sharply and rounded them. This led to at least four Geno Smith interceptions.
Former Seahawks wide receiver speaks the truth about DK Metcalf
The question of whether Metcalf was overrated or not was never truly answered. He was good, but he was never consistently great. He wanted to win, but didn't seem to fix his route-running problem. He could create explosive plays but cost his team with far too many unnecessary 15-yard penalties.
Former Seahawks wide receiver Bryan Walters never played with DK Metcalf, but Walters has remained a fairly good observer of what makes a wide receiver good and what makes one great. Speaking on a recent episode of the Brock and Salk show on Seattle Sports radio, Walters spoke for many 12s when he said Metcalf was "slightly overrated."
Walters said, "...maybe i'll be a little nice I guess, but slightly overrated. I think he's gonna do well in Pittsburgh, but at the same time I just think that they really revamped this wide receiver room to fit that Kubiak scheme and a lot of guys that are better route runners and guys that just kinda complement each other."
Metcalf reportedly requested to be traded from the Seahawks many times. He wanted to play somewhere warmer than Seattle and go to a team with a better quarterback situation that was closer to winning a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh currently fits none of those aspects.
It is unknown how productive the receiver will be. The problem is that the Steelers are still looking for a quarterback, so Metcalf might not yet know who will be throwing him passes in 2025. The team also traded wide receiver George Pickens, so Metcalf will receive almost all of the focus from the secondaries.
But one thing he can do to help his new team is run his routes more crisply. He is going to score touchdowns, and score a bunch of them on long pass plays where he breaks a tackle and then outruns defenders to the end zone. But the little things matter.
He is "slightly overrated" because he gets too many needless penalties and will cause his quarterback to throw a pick when Metcalf could have been in a better position to catch the ball. The receiver will continue to be good, but he has the physical ability to be consistently great, and that is unlikely to happen.
