Paul Richardson next up after Percy Harvin trade

The Seattle Seahawks passing attack hasn’t enjoyed the kind of success they had last season, and star wide receiver Percy Harvin wasn’t able to become as big of a piece in the offense as hoped. Believing that the injury-prone WR was no longer a fit upon his return to full health, the Seahawks have jettisoned the former Minnesota Vikings wideout to the New York Jets for a mid-round pick.

Most of the focus on the impact of the trade will, rightfully, be directed at the Jets for making such a stunning and sudden move to upgrade their wide receiver corps further, but the Seattle Seahawks are the more interesting team since they are, you know, a bona fide Super Bowl contender after winning it all last year. The Seahawks offense hasn’t exactly met expectations this year, which isn’t to say that it’s been bad. But rather, they’ve had sort of an identity crisis, and you got the feeling that things were about to change even before the Harvin deal went down today. Marshawn Lynch will get more carries (thankfully), but the bigger question has to do with the wide receivers, how will the pecking order go and what can the Seahawks do to generate more of the big plays that helped make them so successful last year?

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With Harvin gone, Paul Richardson seems to be the answer. He isn’t without polish, and that fact can be seen in his relatively anonymous preseason and his lone catch this season. The Seahawks have averaged a below-average 6.2 net yards per pass attempt this season, and you start to wonder if Richardson could indeed become a better fit for the Seahawks offense this season.

Richardson received some DeSean Jackson comparisons (as you can see above, he also wears No. 10) at Colorado, but we haven’t been able to see that this year. He’s raw, but he still deserves more than just a bunch of appearances on the inactive list, even if we saw a few mental mistakes early on in his career. Those will happen and will continue to happen, but the fact that the Seahawks felt comfortable enough to trade Harvin tells us two things. Firstly, that they aren’t comfortable with Harvin in the offense, and, secondly, that they believe Richardson can do about as good of a job (perhaps better).

One problem with Harvin is that he isn’t a “real” WR, in that you have to find ways to make sure he’s open; you can’t run an offense through him. Golden Tate gave the Seahawks some huge playmaking ability after the catch, but, unlike Harvin, he was an excellent route-runner who could win at all levels (including downfield) with regularity. Clearly, Richardson isn’t Tate (few players are), but he offers more downfield pass-catching ability and, therefore, should theoretically be able to help clear things out and bring back some more of that deep passing to the Seahawks offense.

There’s no doubt that Darrell Bevell will have to do a better job of calling games and that the Seahawks can improve in some areas of offensive execution, but this passing attack should be playing at a higher level. The offensive line is better with Justin Britt looking like a revelation, and it’s clear that their biggest issues at wide receiver. Doug Baldwin can complain all he wants, but the fact of the matter is that these guys just weren’t getting it done, especially from a playmaking standpoint. Richardson isn’t close to being the finished product, but there’s a reason why he received D-Jax comparisons; he’s an exciting player who can break games open as a receiver, not just a “wrinkle” player. I love Harvin and wish he could have stuck around in Seattle, but the Seahawks could generate some more excitement and more aggressiveness as a passing attack if Richardson can make an immediate impact. If not, then I’m not sure what the Seahawks plans will be, but there’s no doubt that it will be interesting to see what Bevell puts together.

Richardson made huge plays throughout training camp and is the kind of high-upside WR teams like the Seahawks drool over. They have the ability to be patient with WRs like him and morph tools-y players into stars, and there’s a chance Richardson could make a name for himself this year as a playmaker after the catch and on deep passes. He’s not a legit No. 1 receiver or even someone you can rely on in the passing game, but that’s not what the Seahawks need or want at the position; they already have reliable guys who can move the chains like Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, and, hopefully, fellow rookie Kevin Norwood. No, with Harvin gone, the Seahawks need Richardson to be a playmaker, especially when it comes to stretching the field vertically.

Even though I don’t quite agree with his comparison, I still find it to be extremely interesting and somewhat noteworthy: one draftnik compared Paul Richardson to Golden Tate in this scouting report.

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