By Dianna Russini, Michael-Shawn Dugar and Chris Licata
After spending his first six seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, Pro Bowl receiver DK Metcalf has requested a trade, and conversations with other teams have already begun, league sources confirmed to The Athletic.
The news comes on the same day the team released its longest-tenured player, fellow wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who is now a free agent days ahead of the new league year.
Metcalf, 27, was selected No. 64 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Seahawks. The former second-rounder has recorded at least 900 receiving yards in each of his first six seasons, totaling 438 receptions, 6,324 yards and 48 receiving touchdowns in the regular season. He has added 451 yards and five touchdowns in four postseason games, most recently during the 2022 season.
Seattle has missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and has not advanced past the wild-card round since Metcalf’s rookie season.
Metcalf’s financials are a big piece of the puzzle
Metcalf’s 2025 cap hit of $31.8 million is scheduled to be the highest among receivers (he was previously third until Davante Adams was released and CeeDee Lamb restructured his contract with Dallas). Metcalf is entering the final year of the three-year, $72 million contract extension, which at the time paid him like a top-10 receiver. Metcalf’s current average annual salary ranks just outside the top 10. An extension had the potential to lower his cap hit and give Metcalf a raise, however this request suggests the two sides aren’t closing to seeing eye-to-eye in that regard.
When assessing Metcalf’s 2024 season, which was an underwhelming year by the two-time Pro Bowler’s standards, coach Mike Macdonald said Seattle needed to be better at getting him the ball instead of simply using him as a decoy. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Macdonald said he’d like Metcalf to be a focal point of the offense. At his introductory press conference last month, new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said the opportunity to coach Metcalf is part of what attracted him to Seattle.
Trading a player of Metcalf’s caliber at this stage of his career would be akin to Seattle sending star pass rusher Frank Clark to the Chiefs ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft. The Seahawks netted a first-round pick (and more) in the trade, which was agreed to after Clark and Seattle determined they were too far apart on numbers for a potential contract extension. Clark signed a five-year, $104 million contract with Kansas City. — Michael-Shawn Dugar, Seahawks beat writer
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(Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
