DK Metcalf wasn’t even in the play. He was standing in the middle of the endzone, ten yards behind Cardinals safety Budda Baker, who had just picked off Seattle quarterback Russel Wilson and was heading for the opposite end zone for an Arizona touchdown. It looked like Baker would score easily, with everyone on the Seahawks left gawking. But not Metcalf. He never gave up on the play and sprinted 100 yards down the field to keep Baker from scoring. Metcalf is more than what shows up on the stat sheet. He plays with heart.
“I think obviously his speed for a big man is unmatched, he is the best deep threat in the NFL, I think he is the third best wide receiver in the league,” says Luca Solimeno, a senior at Roosevelt, when asked about his thoughts on Metcalf.
“His routes are much better than what people thought they would be, and by this time next year, he will have nearly perfect routes and will be able to run the entire route tree. I also think that if he is one on one, then Russ needs to throw it his way,” Solimeno says.
DeKaylin Zecharius “DK” Metcalf is quickly becoming an emerging star in the National Football League, and he is fueling that narrative with an impressive start to the 2020-21 season despite the challenges of COVID-19.
Metcalf was born and raised in Oxford, Mississippi, where he played football at Oxford High School and the University of Mississippi. Football had always been in Metcalf’s blood, as his father, Terrence Metcalf, played guard for the Chicago Bears. DK played at Ole Miss for three seasons before declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft, where he was selected by the Seahawks with the 64th pick in the second round.
Although Metcalf was a standout for the rebels in his three years, he was forced to battle through injuries. One particularly threatened his chances of ever stepping foot on a football field again.
As a freshman at Ole Miss in 2016, Metcalf appeared in the first two games of the season before suffering a foot injury which ended his season. He was granted an extra year to play in college because of his injury.
Even in his condensed season, Metcalf still thrived; he had two receptions for 14 yards, with both of the receptions going for touchdowns.
The following season, Metcalf returned from his injury and broke out with 39 receptions for 646 yards and seven touchdowns. During the 2018 season, Metcalf was on track for another standout year, with 26 receptions for 569 yards before sustaining a season-ending neck injury against Arkansas.
Before entering the NFL, the wideout was suddenly uncertain about his future. In the hours and days after the neck injury that ended his college career, Metcalf was told by doctors that he would never play in the NFL. He was later told he could play football again, but only after a risky surgery to his neck.
After his surgery, Metcalf daringly declared for the NFL Draft, forgoing his last two years of eligibility to play college football. It was a difficult decision to say the least, and many people think that his injury caused Metcalf, a potential first-round draft pick, to fall into the second round and into the lap of the Seattle Seahawks.
“It’s just a blessing in disguise,” Metcalf tells reporters when asked about his feelings about being drafted into the Seahawks. He says, “I like to describe it, I wasn’t supposed to go in the first round for a reason. Probably because I wasn’t gonna work as hard if I got drafted in the first round or early in the second round. But it allowed me to come in here with a chip on my shoulder and just to realize what it felt to be an underdog in the NFL.”
On May 22, 2019, Metcalf signed a four-year rookie deal with the Seahawks worth $4.6 million. From then on, Metcalf got to work on his game.
In his first regular season game, Metcalf set a franchise record for total yards by a player on his NFL debut, eclipsing Hall of Famer Steve Largent’s previous record. Throughout the season, Metcalf continued to impress, recording his first career touchdown in Week 2 and his first game with multiple touchdowns in Week 8.
Metcalf finished the 2019 regular season with 900 receiving yards (third among NFL rookies) on 58 receptions with seven receiving touchdowns, second on the team in all three categories to Tyler Lockett. In the wild card round, Metcalf set the NFL record for most receiving yards (160) by a rookie in a playoff game.
In only his second season, Metcalf has been one of the best receivers in the game. Over one and a half seasons, Metcalf has caught 101 passes for 1688 yards and 15 touchdowns, per Pro Football Reference.
“I’m not famous,” Metcalf tells reporters who cover the Seahawks during a Zoom call. “I haven’t done anything yet to be famous.”
With that mindset and the pace he is on, Metcalf is on track to be one of the best receivers in the league for many years to come.
