Analysis: Which Seahawks Receivers Have the Best Chance of Winning Roster Spot?
With the Seahawks wrapping up mandatory minicamp on Friday, the clock has started on an extensive six-week wait until the team reconvenes for training camp at the end of July.
When the wait is over, competition will be aplenty around Seattle's roster, especially at the back end of its receiving corps. DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, D'Wayne Eskridge and Freddie Swain all seemingly have their roster spots locked in, but there's still one or two openings remaining behind them.
The race towards the team's 53-man roster will be a tight one, currently featuring nine receivers vying for a job that may or may not extend to more than one of them. In fact, it's already begun, starting as early as the team's rookie minicamp in mid-May.
It'll be a battle royale of sorts, one that will certainly benefit from the return of the preseason.
Let's break down which players have the early advantage and which have the most to offer out of the group.
1. Penny Hart
Hart finished minicamp on a strong note, earning praise from coach Pete Carroll following an impressive final practice on Friday. Cracking the Seahawks' active roster before the first week of the 2020 season, he has more than twice as many games played (13) than anyone else in this group—the closest being Darvin Kidsy with five. For the experience he gained last year and the dependability and versatility he offers both on offense and special teams, Hart is the name to watch once the competition ramps back up.
2. Cade Johnson
Once thought to be a surefire mid-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, Johnson has lost quite a bit of steam over the past few months. Falling out of the draft entirely and signing with Seattle as an undrafted free agent in May due in part to a poor showing at his pro day, his woes continued when he got off to a late start in offseason workouts after coming in with a groin injury. When healthy, however, he may be the best route runner out of this group and gives the team some much-need after-the-catch potential.
3. Cody Thompson
One of the standouts at training camp last year, Thompson will finally get his chance to prove what he can do in game action in front of Seattle's coaching staff this August. He's a well-sized target with good hands and a knack for eating up yardage, and had success as a special teams player at the University of Toledo. If he can shine on both ends, he'll make things tough on the likes of Hart and Johnson.
4. Connor Wedington
Wedington returns to the state of Washington with a real shot at leaving an immediate and lasting impression. A strong performance on special teams will be the Sumner High School product's best path to making the roster, which he just so happened to excel at in his four years at Stanford. But don't overlook his ability as a receiver as well; he may have posted so-so numbers in college and struggled with the injury bug, but he's an excellent athlete who can make things happen with the ball in his hands. If he stays healthy, he could be a surprise name that jumps out this summer.
5. Tamorrion Terry
Similar to Johnson, Terry was very much expected to be drafted this year. But after a knee injury and subsequent surgery raised too many red flags, teams passed him up and he fell into the Seahawks' collective laps as a UDFA. Given his size, speed and success at Florida State, it comes as no surprise he's one of the more hyped-up names in this group by Seattle's fanbase. But he's still raw in quite a few areas, particularly as a route runner, and will need to show significant growth there and prove useful on special teams to leapfrog those ahead of him.
6. John Ursua
Ursua's now in his third year in the league and still only has one catch to his name, spending the entire 2020 season on Seattle's practice squad. That's not a particularly good sign, especially when considering the Seahawks struggled to find consistent production behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett for the majority of the year. That said, Ursua's a player the team really liked coming out of college, even earning comparisons to former Seahawk Doug Baldwin for his work at the line of scrimmage. But his issues thus far are hard to ignore, and his inability to grasp former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's playbook doesn't bode well for his chances of mastering the "super complex" scheme of Shane Waldron.
7. Aaron Fuller
Signing as a UDFA in 2020, most Seahawks fans should be quite familiar with Fuller from his days at the University of Washington. He was a training camp stud last summer, performing well in practice and Seattle's two mock games at Lumen Field, making several tough grabs while finding the end zone on multiple occasions. Despite his low ranking on this list, he's a sleeper to keep an eye on in the preseason if he picks up where he left off.
8. Darvin Kidsy
As mentioned earlier, Kidsy has the second-most experience in this group, which, to be fair, isn't saying a whole lot. He's been a productive preseason performer in the past, so there's certainly a chance he could take advantage of an extended look, but he's so far down the pecking order of a 13-deep group that it's hard to envision him getting such an opportunity.
9. Travis Toivonen
Toivonen turned his success as the Fan-Controlled Football League's leading receiver into an opportunity with the Seahawks, signing with the team earlier this month after tight end Nick Guggemos was cut. At 6-foot-3, he has good size and has been a high-volume player wherever he's played, but like the rest of the receivers in the second half of this list, chances to impress are going to be hard to come by.
