The building process for the 2025 NFL season continues. The league’s new fiscal year began over a month ago, and Seattle Seahawks’ general manager John Schneider wasted little time bringing in a new quarterback (Sam Darnold) and dealing their incumbent (Geno Smith) for a third-round draft choice. There was the release of 10-year wideout Tyler Lockett, and a trade that sent DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh.
There were the signings of veterans Cooper Kupp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and DeMarcus Lawrence, to name a few.
Mike Macdonald’s club now has 11 new players via last week’s draft. Add in their undrafted free agents, and this is already a very different roster from a year ago.
Sterling Xie of the Pro Football Sports Network had 32 suggestions for 32 teams in terms of adding a free agent. When it came to Macdonald’s club, he pitched a veteran pass-catcher who spent time with both the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills in 10-year pro Amari Cooper.
“The Seattle Seahawks have a wide receiver depth chart that’s a bit hard to decipher. Their top two of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp have positional redundancy, with Kupp likely needing to play out of position out wide. Veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a one-tricky pony as a pure vertical speed threat, making him a better fit for situational usage than a heavy dose snaps in 11 personnel.
“Seattle drafted a pair of productive Day 3 rookies in Tory Horton and Ricky White III, but it still doesn’t have an obvious replacement for DK Metcalf’s X receiver role. Cooper has never played in a Klint Kubiak scheme before, but he looms as the best remaining veteran option to fill that role.”
Xie went on to explain how the five-time Pro Bowler was a great fit in 2023 in Cleveland when Joe Flacco was getting the ball to him. “Cooper benefited from Joe Flacco’s willingness to give him downfield chances…(Darnold) could provide Cooper with that same opportunity in Kubiak’s play-action-heavy offense.”
The addition of Cooper as a deep threat could really open up Seattle’s new-look attack. The well-traveled former first-round pick of the Raiders could also come at a reasonable price.
