Seahawks May Have Won DK Metcalf Trade with Steelers After All

It's been 16 months since the Seattle Seahawks traded DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers. At the time, the deal looked like a massive loss for the Seahawks, but in retrospect, Seattle comes out as a big winner.

The Seahawks acquired the No. 52 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft while the teams swapped sixth- and seventh-round picks to get Metcalf to Pittsburgh. Given how the Steelers were eliminated in the Wild Card Round and the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, it's safe to say the trade was a success for Seattle.

How Steelers Have Fared with Metcalf

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf participates in OTA drills at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Metcalf struggled in his first season with the Steelers, coming up with 59 catches for 850 yards and six touchdowns. It's not a bad stat line, considering he missed two games due to injury, but it's the lowest number of targets (99) he's ever received in his career.

Adding Metcalf to the wide receiver room allowed them to trade George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. He broke out in his first season away from Pittsburgh, recording 1,429 receiving yards, which ranked third in the league behind Puka Nakua of the Los Angeles Rams and Metcalf's former teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The Steelers could still gain a lot from Metcalf, who is in the first season of his four-year, $132 million extension. It's likely that the best has yet to come from Metcalf in a Steelers uniform.

Seahawks Are Still Clear Winners of the Trade

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba speaks to the media | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Seahawks are the winners of this trade for a few reasons. The first is that it opened up JSN to become the leading receiver of the offense. Smith-Njigba led the league in receiving yards with 1,793 while scoring 10 touchdowns for one of the best offenses in the NFL.

Smith-Njigba was used more like how he was at Ohio State than his previous two seasons where he was often used as someone to take some attention away from Metcalf. JSN had far more plays drawn up for him and was the top target for Sam Darnold in the offense.

As for the pick they acquired from the Steelers in the trade, it was ultimately used to move up in the second round, all the way up to No. 35, where the team selected South Carolina defensive back Nick Emmanwori.

Emmanwori has been a breakout player for the Seahawks and could emerge as one of the pillars of the defense for the next several years. His versatility in the secondary and hard-hitting nature gives the Seahawks someone that can contribute in a number of different ways for many years to come.

He can keep up with speedy receivers in coverage or he can be used to disguise coverages since he has the physicality of a linebacker.

Not only did the Seahawks get better on offense with this deal, but defense as well. They are the big winners of the trade after winning a Super Bowl, and it's possible that this could become one of the more lopsided deals in recent memory down the line.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Super Bowl champions from Seattle Seahawks On SI —

Sign Up For the Seahawks Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Seattle Seahawks Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google