Seattle Seahawks: Predicting team leaders in statistics for 2019

Receiving Yards

This is the open category where a number of players will be considered. Last season, Tyler Lockett led the Seahawks in receiving with 965 yards, but he benefitted from Doug Baldwin being hampered by injuries all year long.

Now, Baldwin might be forced to step away from football permanently because of his compounding injuries. Even last year, when he recorded just 50 receptions, 618 receiving yards and five touchdowns, I still thought of Baldwin as Seattle’s best receiver. With him potentially stepping away, a trio of young players will be asked to fill his vacant production.

Let’s start with Lockett. The speedster led the team in receptions (57), receiving yards (965), and receiving touchdowns (ten) last year. While he’ll be Wilson’s top target heading into 2019, we shouldn’t overlook Lockett’s flaws. Ultimately, he’s a speed receiver and that may place limitations on his game.

Lockett averaged 16.9 yards per reception last season, which is why he was able to rack up more than 300 yards than Baldwin on only seven more receptions. That style isn’t always consistent or maintainable, for every DeSean Jackson there’s a Mike Wallace or Torrey Smith. We’ll see if Lockett can continue to raise his production.

The other two contenders for this spot are rookies D.K. Metcalf and Gary Jennings. I don’t need to explain to anyone what a physical specimen Metcalf is — just go look at a picture of him shirtless and you’ll understand — but the Ole Miss product struggled with injuries in college and never recorded over 700 receiving yards in a single season.

In his final two seasons in college, Metcalf recorded 18.69 yards per reception, putting him in the deep threat category with Lockett. His average might be so high because he struggles to cut, which is required for running shorter routes, as many scouts noted before the draft. While Metcalf has the raw talent to start, I don’t know how he’ll fit in the offense alongside Lockett.

Then there’s Jennings. The West Virginia product had two very different years in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, he recorded 97 receptions, 1,096 receiving yards, 11.3 yards per reception and just one touchdown. In 2018, he finished the collegiate season with 54 receptions, 917 receiving yards, 17 yards per reception and 13 touchdowns. His 2017 season shows that he could play the Baldwin-type role, but his 2018 numbers are more similar to Lockett’s. Ideally, Jennings will fill the short route role for the Seahawks this season and take over Baldwin’s role.

Of the three receivers considered, I actually think that Jennings, a fourth-round pick, will lead the team in receiving yards. While Lockett is the established player in the room and Metcalf is the most physically talented, Wilson fell in love with Baldwin as a security blanket and I think that Jennings can become that player at the next level.

I think Jennings will just cross the 1,000 receiving yards threshold on roughly 85 receptions as a rookie. That will leave Lockett with around 850 receiving yards and Metcalf will have around 450.