DK Metcalf’s exit from Seattle looked risky when John Schneider pulled the trigger in the 2025 offseason. A year later, it’s hard to argue the Seahawks didn’t come out ahead.
Schneider sent Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a move that helped clear the runway for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to become his best. Seattle came away with a second-round pick and a seventh-round selection, while also sending out a sixth-rounder with the receiver, leaving the swap effectively even on the late-round compensation. That second-rounder was then used as part of a package to move up in the 2025 draft for a player Seattle considered transformative.
That player was Nick Emmanwori, the defensive back Seattle landed at pick 35 after trading up. Based on the way things have unfolded, the Seahawks would not have been able to make that move without the Metcalf deal. And for 12s, the answer to who they’d rather have is obvious.
Metcalf’s time in Pittsburgh has not come close to matching the expectations that came with his arrival. In 2025, he finished with 59 catches for 850 yards, a career low in receiving yardage, and six touchdowns. The Steelers gave him a huge extension after the trade, and he promptly failed to deliver at the level they needed.
His season also included a late suspension after an altercation with a Detroit Lions fan. The details leading up to it were murky, but the larger point was clear: an NFL player striking a fan is a bad look for the league, and Metcalf was fortunate the punishment wasn’t worse.
The struggles have continued into 2026. He did post a 115-yard game in Week 4, but that still came with only five catches on nine targets and no touchdown in a 27-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Those 115 yards topped his total from the first three games combined.
Through four weeks, Metcalf has caught just 48 percent of his targets, has one touchdown, and is on pace for 68 receptions, 905 yards, and four scores. Those are useful numbers for most receivers, but they look modest next to a $33 million-a-year salary.
Meanwhile, Seattle’s side of the deal keeps looking better. Smith-Njigba was no longer sharing the spotlight with Metcalf, and that opened the door for him to pile up even more production. He went on to become the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year the season after Metcalf was traded, and the connection is impossible to miss.
Could Metcalf still turn things around and boost his numbers? Sure.
But he’s working with an old quarterback and a route tree that’s never exactly been expansive. Even if Pittsburgh doesn’t make the playoffs this year or next, that won’t change what Seattle already gained from moving on.
The Seahawks were good enough to win a Super Bowl the season after he left, and that has to sting.
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