The Seattle Seahawks are coming off a Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Moreover, the team’s passing game outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba was nonexistent, which is why one ESPN NFL analyst is concerned after one week.
Against the Niners, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold leaned heavily on Smith-Njigba. The 23-year-old recorded nine receptions for 124 receiving yards, but there was nothing else behind him. Veteran receiver Cooper Kupp was held to two receptions and 15 receiving yards.
It’s only one week, but ESPN’s Mina Kimes is worried that the Seahawks might not have a reliable No. 2 guy behind Smith-Njigba after trading away DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers this past offseason.
“I’m not panicking because I don’t think [Darnold] played super poorly, but he’s clearly in an inferior situation to what he was in Minnesota, and that’s what it looked like,” Kimes said on the September 11 edition of “The Rich Eisen Show.” “I think he’ll be competent for them.
“There’ll be games against inferior defenses where this offense looks good. I just don’t think they have enough dudes out there.
They need one of the young players, whether it’s a Tory Horton or an Elijah Arroyo, to step up as a secondary pass catcher to Smith-Njigba.”
Can the Seahawks Replace DK Metcalf?
With Seattle playing the Steelers and facing their former receiver, Kimes spoke about whether the Seahawks can replace Metcalf so the offense doesn’t have to rely heavily on Smith-Njigba.
“I think it’s going to have to be a youth movement there,“ Kimes added.
“And then you got old friend DK Metcalf coming to town this week, and I guess you could call it a revenge game. I thought he looked really good in Week 1 against the Jets.
“It’s not like they chose Cooper Kupp over DK Metcalf. Metcalf is making significantly more money than him, and they got a third-round draft pick, but it is hard not to feel like this receiving group is missing something.”
Kupp had a bad Week 1, so there’s the likelihood that he can take the workload off the shoulders of Smith-Njigba.
Moreover, the Steelers’ defense was carved up by the New York Jets‘ offense in Week 1, so there’s a chance that Kupp has a bounce-back performance against Pittsburgh.
Still, there’s also the possibility that the Steelers tighten up their defense and don’t concede 32 points in Week 2.
Seahawks Stars Talk Facing DK Metcalf
Seattle defensive back Shaquill Griffin acknowledged there could be some bragging rights when facing an old friend.
However, the Seahawks can’t let the matchup get personal—especially after a 17-13 loss to San Francisco, where a defense expected to be a strength struggled.
“We’re not sitting here just saying, ‘We only want to game plan against DK because we want to get something out of it,‘” Griffin said (h/t Seattle Sports).
“We’re going to make the plays that we need to make against him. But, also, man, we’re getting ready to try to get back on track and start getting these W’s stacked up and getting that first win so we can make this run.”
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