Brock and Salk: Why Seattle Seahawks traded WR DK Metcalf

For those wondering if the Seattle Seahawks would oblige to wide receiver DK Metcalf’s trade request, they didn’t have to wait long.

Just four days after his want to leave Seattle became public, the Seahawks reportedly dealt Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a return highlighted by a second-round draft pick on Sunday.

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The Steelers then signed Metcalf to a new five-year, $150 million deal, according to multiple NFL insiders. The contract includes four years and $132 million added to the one year he had remaining on his current deal.

It all came two days after Seattle reportedly traded starting quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick, and a day before the Seahawks reportedly agreed to terms with QB Sam Darnold in free agency.

Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Monday discussed why Metcalf was ultimately traded.

“Even more so than Geno, this was money,” said co-host Brock Huard, a former NFL quarterback. “I think that is (reason) 1A and 1B, and then kind of the gulf between reasons two, three, four and five are pretty great.”

So, why weren’t the Seahawks willing to pay Metcalf a contract worth the $30 million average he was reportedly seeking and ended up getting with the Steelers?

Following a trend

Metcalf was a highly productive receiver during his six seasons with the Seahawks. He had over 900 receiving yards each year, including a franchise-record 1,303 receiving yards in 2020.

If he hadn’t missed two games with a knee injury in 2024, he’d very likely be coming off his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard campaign (Metcalf had 992 yards in 15 games).

But Huard pointed out that the Seahawks may believe that they’ve already seen the best of the 27-year-old receiver.

“This comes down to the Seahawks internally believing, and I think I’m with them, that DK’s absolute best days they got over the last six years,” Huard said. “… So they got the six best years out of DK, and there is no way and in no world that they were going to do a four-year, $132 million extension that the Pittsburgh Steelers – who have been in desperate, desperate need for a No. 1 receiver – were willing to do.”

Metcalf’s new contract is his third in the NFL. High-dollar third contracts for receivers haven’t tended to age well for teams in recent years.

For example, the Raiders signed star receiver Davante Adams to a five-year, $140 million deal in 2022. Adams’ numbers steadily declined after an All-Pro season in 2022, he was traded to the New York Jets last season and then cut by the Jets in February. The Raiders and Jets are carrying a combined $26 million in salary cap charges from Adams’ contract in 2025.

“There’s plenty of examples of how those have backfired and how many teams have been looking to just offload somebody that they spent a lot of money on, rather than being happy about the fact that they did it,” co-host Mike Salk said.

He’s never been elite

The $30 million average yearly value of Metcalf’s new reported contract makes him tied for the fifth-highest paid receiver in the league, per Over The Cap.

While Metcalf made a huge impact for the Seahawks with not just his production but his ability to garner the attention of defense, his numbers haven’t stacked up well next to the league’s elite receivers during his career. He’s finished top 10 in the league in receiving yards only once in six seasons.

“DK’s always been really good and he has never quite been elite,” Salk said. “I mean, we have these conversations. There’s a reason why each time these best of lists come around DK, even by his peers, is not rated one of the top 10, 12 wide receivers in the league.

“There’s some things he does excellent, there are some things that are weaknesses in his game. And then secondarily, he just doesn’t have elite hands,” Salk continued. “If you want to be paid in that $30-plus million range as a wide receiver, you probably need elite hands, especially because that’s the thing that’s going to deteriorate the least.”

A new vision

When Mike Macdonald took over last year as Seahawks head coach, the roster largely stayed the same outside of draft picks and a handful of one-year free agent contracts. Much like when Pete Carroll took over the Seahawks, major changes are starting to happen in Macdonald’s second season.

“He didn’t make that many big changes heading into last year. He made a few as he went, but you couldn’t make the DK change or Geno change in the middle of the year last year,” Salk said. “This is when you have to make major changes, and he’s got to put Mike Macdonald’s stamp on it because it’s his butt on the line.”

Huard agreed.

“I would say right at the center of that is that we’re going to spend our money right,” Huard said. “When we say we’re a line of scrimmage team and when we say we want to be physical and violent and teams don’t want to play against us – it’s really great to have a Ferrari (like Metcalf) on the outside that can rev like a semi-truck, and that’s awesome – but I need the resources focused first on the (line of scrimmage).”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast at the Seattle Sports app.