Why Seahawks rookie Tory Horton could prove to be ‘steal of the draft’

This was no way to slow down the Tory Horton hype train.

As the Seahawks rookie receiver talked to media following Monday’s practice at the VMAC, cornerback Riq Woolen walked by.

“Jerry Rice Jr.,” Woolen shouted. “Jerry Rice Jr.”

That comment came a few days after fellow rookie Nick Emmanwori said he thinks Horton — a fifth-round pick out of Colorado State — “will be the steal of the draft.”

Here’s where we step in with the Debbie Downer advisement that it may be best to let Horton play a few preseason games, let alone some in the regular season, before heaping many more expectations on his shoulders.

But the comments of Woolen and Emmanwori accurately reflect the excitement Horton has elicited through the first 11 practices of training camp.
The first big revelation was simply seeing Horton on the field.

Horton, listed at 6-foot-2, 196 pounds, had surgery last fall to repair what he termed last spring “an LCL (lateral collateral ligament)/hamstring (injury). It came off the bone.”

That ended his season after six games and undoubtedly played into Horton still being available when the Seahawks got him as the 166^th overall pick and 22^nd receiver taken. 

Horton was unable to take part fully in pre-draft workouts because his knee was still healing. Still, he ran a 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 4.41 that spoke loudly to the Seahawks. 

“I wasn’t even 70%,” Horton said. “That just goes to my competitive nature of going out there and seeing those other guys run.”

He said he thinks he’d have gotten in the 4.3 range if fully healthy, which might have meant going a bit higher than the fifth round — and maybe not being in position to be as big of a draft steal as Emmanwori predicts.

“Me hearing that, it’s a little bit of motivation for me,” Horton said of Emmanwori’s praise. “At the end of the day, God had his plan for me and I’m happy I ended up in Seattle. There were a lot of teams who knocked me because of the injury and it’s a hard pill to swallow.

“… So me hearing ‘the steal of the draft,’ now I just want to go out there and capitalize on it. Let those people know that I’m back and I’m full go. I’m ready.”

Horton has appeared to practice without limitations over the past week. He was on something of a snap count early on as the team eased him in as he did little in the offseason program while continuing to recover.

Horton said the prognosis for a full recovery was always good. That didn’t make the recovery process any easier.

“It is a huge mental toll to be out for that long and for the season,” he said. “Of course, with it being my senior year and my fifth year, I wanted to come back and achieve some things. It kind of puts you in a dark place. (But) I have a pretty good fan base, shoutout to them (and) they kept me well-grounded, safe and heard. I found that mental circle for me to just stay at it. It kind of just showed me that you have to find a different drive.”

Horton says the knee is no longer an issue.

“I feel like the knee thing is in the past,” he said. “The training staff did a great job with me, and we still stay on top of it to this day. When I go out there on the field, the knee is the last of my worries, I just go out there and perform.”

After Horton took a few days getting acclimated once camp began he began making plays all over the field. 

The team’s official website posted video of what might have been his highlight play so far — a catch Friday when he leapt and twisted to snare a pass from Sam Darnold under heavy defense from cornerback Josh Jobe and managed to get both feet inbounds in the back of the end zone.

“He’s making multiple plays every day,” coach Mike Macdonald said after Saturday’s practice.

Enough to make a climb on the team’s depth chart.

In Saturday’s open practice at Lumen Field, Horton typically worked as the starter in three-receiver sets along with veterans Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp and ahead of veteran free agent signee Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Darnold noted that Horton has impressed as much with his attitude off the field as his play between the lines.

“He has shown a lot of great things so far in training camp,” Darnold said. “His curiosity and the questions that he asks with the receivers, and to us as quarterbacks, he’s hungry to learn the game, learn the system. He just wants to put his best foot forward for the team, and that’s all you can ask for him.”

Horton is getting work in the return games and may factor into the punt return game, returning 26 punts for 423 and three touchdowns in his last three college seasons.

There’s a long way to go, to be sure. 

But the early, well, returns indicate Horton may be able to fulfill the heady expectations that not only his teammates have for him but that general manager John Schneider laid on him on draft day.

“Tory is an underrated guy, in our opinion,” Schneider said. “I mean, he can return punts, the catch radius — he’s this long, competitive, very fast receiver.’’

The Seahawks signed Valdes-Scantling to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million with $3 million guaranteed, so there doesn’t seem to be a question that he’ll make the 53-man roster.

There also seems no doubt that Horton will have a significant role going into the season, and the Seahawks will let the receiver rotation battle play out from there.

Horton insists he’s taking it one step at a time after having some days following his surgery when taking any steps at all was a challenge.

And first things first, he says, is making his NFL debut in Thursday’s preseason game against the Raiders, with his father, mother, sister and brother-in-law and his fiancée all planning to attend.

“At the end of the day, this is all I dreamed of,” said Horton, a graduate of Washington Union High in Fresno, Calif. “When I was a kid I said I would do anything to get to this spot, so you’re living that dream. I am going day by day to just try and get better every day.”