How Seattle Seahawks fans will feel about wide receiver DK Metcalf in many years is difficult to know. Right now, so soon after the divorce, having a non-emotional reaction to the receiver wanting to leave Seattle is impossible.
This is what happens when a popular and productive player suddenly seems to want to no longer play for your favorite team. How can he not love the Seahawks? The team that took a chance on him by drafting him in the second round of the 2019 draft, when other teams were fearful he would never stay healthy.
General manager John Schneider and then-head coach Pete Carroll passed over Metcalf earlier in the draft, but at the end of the second round, they didn't make the mistake again. The receiver turned out to be one of the most productive in Seahawks history over his six years with the team.
Seahawks GM John Schneider breaks down sending DK Metcalf to the Steelers
Still, he wanted out, and, reportedly, multiple times, he requested to be traded. This offseason, as Metcalf was entering the final year of his current deal, Schneider and the Seahawks honored his request and traded the receiver to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Schneider broke down the situation on a recent episode of the 3 and Out podcast with John Middlekauff.
Schneider said, "(The Seahawks and Metcalf) had a ton of conversations last offseason (2024) about his legacy, where he wanted to go...And then this year (Metcalf's trade request) just happened and again, you can't change the way people think...When people wanna leave, it's difficult to try to convince them to stay. Once we got back from the Combine, we had another real open talk, and then we told him we would concede to his (wish of being traded)."
Seattle worked out a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who Schneider said were "very aggressive" in trying to acquire the receiver, and the swap was basically the Seahawks getting a second-round 2025 draft pick. The teams also traded later-round choices as part of the deal.
Metcalf was rumored to have three wishes when he made his trade request. He wanted to go to a team that played their home games in warmer weather, wanted a team with a better quarterback situation, and wanted to go to a team that was closer to winning a championship.
None of those at the time rang true of the Steelers. But Pittsburgh did give Metcalf a contract extension for four years and $132 million soon after the trade. Ultimately, that probably made him happier than any of the three requests above.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, enter 2025 with their worst group of receivers since 2019. Not only was Metcalf traded, but Tyler Lockett was released. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is ascending and still on the roster, but to replace Metcalf and Lockett, Seattle signed oft-injured Cooper Kupp and consistently ineffective Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Seahawks fans might not miss DK Metcalf's mercurial attitude, but he will be missed on the field. At least, Seattle doesn't have to wait long to face Metcalf. The Steelers and the Seahawks play one another in Week 2 of the 2025 season.
