When the Seahawks brought in Brian Fleury, a former tight ends coach who spent a big chunk of his career working with George Kittle, Elijah Arroyo looked like the obvious beneficiary. After a rookie year that produced only 15 catches, the setup seemed tailor-made for a bigger role.
Four games in, that hasn’t happened. Arroyo has just one catch this season, a 17-yard grab over the middle from Drew Lock in Week 2.
It was the kind of play Seattle should want to keep repeating. Instead, it’s still the lone entry on his stat line.
That catch is also Arroyo’s only target. On 117 pass attempts, Seahawks quarterbacks have looked his way once.
He has played 63 snaps in total, a little more than a quarter of the offense’s snaps, and that matches Eric Saubert’s workload. He still hasn’t reached 20 snaps in any game.
At this point, he’s barely part of the offense.
That said, this isn’t really about Arroyo as an individual. If he’s struggling so badly in practice that Fleury doesn’t trust him, that’s one thing. But from the outside, the bigger issue is simple: he isn’t getting on the field enough to matter, and when he does, he isn’t getting real chances to do anything.
Seattle’s passing game is low-volume and built around Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but that still doesn’t explain why Eric Saubert and Brady Russell are seeing targets before Arroyo. He may not bring much as a blocker, but plenty of tight ends around the league survive with limited blocking value.
Other teams find ways to use them. So far, Seattle hasn’t.
And this is where the whole thing gets stranger. John Schneider used a top-50 pick on Arroyo, then doubled down after the draft by calling him a “top 15” talent whose stock slid because of injuries.
Since 2000, only ten tight ends have been drafted in the top 15, so that’s not exactly a throwaway compliment. If the front office valued him that highly, it’s hard to square that with the way he’s being used now.
The Seahawks also have a bigger offensive problem staring them in the face. The run game isn’t working the way it should.
The team doesn’t have its usual running back depth, and the blocking up front has been uneven. That puts even more pressure on the passing game to open up, and a player like Arroyo should fit that kind of environment.
There’s also the AJ Barner piece of this. Seattle’s top tight end handled such a heavy load last year that he went through multiple surgeries and spent months of the offseason rehabbing.
Lightening that burden would make sense, too. But that only happens if Arroyo is actually part of the rotation.
More snaps for Arroyo could mean less wear on Barner later. Right now, that opportunity is being wasted.
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For Seattle, the appeal is easy to see: a contender looking to keep pressure on opposing quarterbacks could use another defensive difference-maker, especially if the price comes in the form of draft picks. The question now is less about whether the Seahawks would have interest than whether the Chargers decide to listen, and how much it would take to pull a player like Mack out of Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Fan Crossed A Line With Justin Herbert Heckle
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One Seahawks fan was caught on video directing a food-related insult at Herbert during the game, an example of how thin the line can get when a star quarterback is struggling and a road crowd senses it. It was the kind of heckle that can travel fast because of who it was aimed at, and it added another odd footnote to a Chargers season that has already been short on comfort and long on scrutiny. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Face Their Biggest Early Test Yet Against A Division Rival
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What makes it especially compelling is how evenly matched the two sides appear on paper and how much playoff math can start to matter even this early. Their recent postseason history has only added to the edge here, and coaching decisions, execution and whatever momentum each team has been able to generate will likely shape the outcome. For Seattle, it is not just another division game, but a chance to make a statement in front of its home crowd against a team that has often been a standard-setter. [Read more 🡒]