If you’re an NFL wide receiver without a distinguished pedigree, there is one destination that is eager to see what you can do. High draft pick? Pro Bowls? The Seattle Seahawks don’t really require it from their wide receivers and tight ends. Will that change this offseason?
It’s a question worth asking as NFL general managers and their scouting staffs go about restocking their cupboards for the 2015 campaign. The Seahawks have a few roster holes to fill. It’s shopping season — But here’s good news for the 12s: the Seahawks got a jump start on 2015 before the 2014 season came to its gut-wrenching conclusion.
Chris who?
Super Bowl XLIX left many lasting impressions. Perhaps the best impression made for the Seahawks was the out-of-nowhere emergence of wide receiver Chris Matthews. That’s not hyperbole. Matthews, who netted 109 yards on four catches and a touchdown, had exactly zero of any of those prior to the kickoff of the Super Bowl. That’s right: zero NFL catches before playing in the NFL’s ultimate game earlier this month.
That just doesn’t happen. But it did on February 1. It means, for the Seahawks, the playmaking big body at the wide receiver position they planned on finding this offseason may have already arrived.
Is that too much to hope for? Was Matthews’ performance a once-in-a-career performance? Maybe, but he did it against a Super Bowl champion defense, during the biggest game of his career, when few other Seahawks receivers could get much going. Matthews has a role on this team. Even if he didn’t, how fast would he get snapped up by another NFL squad if the Seahawks sent him packing?
Looking at it from the perspective of the other 31 teams, there is no way they wouldn’t sign a young player that can perform so distinctively in the NFL’s biggest game, should he become available. Barring off-the-field peccadillos, that won’t happen. The Seahawks won’t cut him, so he will be a factor on the 2015 Seahawks squad.
Despite the out-of-nowhere emergence of Matthews, the Seahawks won’t stop shopping for a receiver (including tight end). An impact player that can catch Russell Wilson’s passes is almost certainly a high priority for John Schneider and company as they prepare for the draft and free agency.
Free from the CFL
Matthews’ improbable journey to the (almost) top of the NFL began a year ago when the Seahawks signed him to a reserve/futures contract from the Canadian Football League. Not much was expected of the 6’5”, 218-lb. receiver three years out of Kentucky. After not making it initially with the Cleveland Browns in 2011 and spending two years in Canada with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Matthews looked like a camp body for the defending Super Bowl champs. Patience and perseverance paid off for Matthews as he finally got into a regular season game in week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Matthews toiled on special teams but still managed to make his mark in that respect in the NFC Championship with his timely acceptance of the Green Bay Packers’ onside kick gift that bounced into his arms off of Brandon Bostick’s helmet.
But that’s pretty much it for the Matthews story. Until the Super Bowl. To say the New England Patriots (and the rest of the world) were surprised is an understatement. No matter how much game-planning the Patriots did in anticipation of the Seahawks’ offensive attack, I guarantee you the mere mention of the name “Chris Matthews” did not come up more than once. No NFL catches, ever? Special teams only? Non-factor.
Right.
As it turned out, the Super Bowl’s most miraculous plays, which (of course) include Malcolm Butler’s career-making interception and Jermaine Kearse’s fourth-quarter Antonio Freeman-esque catch on his back, would have all been impossible were it not for Matthews’ dominance over the befuddled Patriots secondary. They had no answer for the nobody. Matthews’ four timely catches — where he effectively used his size and ability to separate at will — nearly won the game for the Seahawks. Matthews was on his way to Super Bowl MVP consideration.
So, yeah. The Seahawks’ receiver corps consists of a mix of talents and the one type of player they need the most — a big-bodied speedster with body control that can outrun in the open field and out-position in the end zone — didn’t want to wait for the offseason to knock on Schneider’s door.
Despite the sudden rapport Matthews built with Wilson in Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahwks know as well as anyone that more impact needs to come from the passing game. Despite his singular accomplishment, Matthews won’t be the lead dog in training camp. It’s not out of the question that he could end up there, however.
Walk this way
What do you call someone that walks from one destination to another? It’s … what is that word? You know — everybody does it at one time or another. You use your feet to get from point A to point B … it’s very common. Not a special activity. Nothing elite required. Oh, shoot. It’s on the tip of my tongue. I cannot think of that word … It’s like pedaling a bike only less complicated and slower. I can’t think of what you call someone that does that. I don’t mean to be pedantic, but there is a word for it. It’ll come to me.
Anyway, Doug Baldwin was the leading receiver for the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, with 66 receptions for 825 yards. All total, that matched pretty closely with the Seahawks’ 2013 leading receiver, since-departed Golden Tate, who had 64 catches for 898 yards. Baldwin complemented Tate’s numbers in the Seahawks’ championship season with an additional 50 catches for 778 yards. In 2014, the blue birds’ second-leading receiver was Kearse with 38 receptions for 537 yards.
Two conclusions jump out: Meh and going backwards.
Wilson, despite his gifts, has not yet been able to lift the Seahawks out of the lower third of the NFL’s passing rankings in his three seasons as a starter. A talent infusion is needed. Who’s left on the roster to take the Seahawks forward in the receiving department? Maybe it will be Ricardo Lockette if he can crawl out from under the bus he was thrown by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevel. However, if much was expected after his 2014 season of 11 catches and 195 yards, even less is probably expected of him now. Despite blazing speed and good size, Lockette has yet to make much of an impact in the NFL.
It means great opportunity for a young player like Chris Matthews and whomever (and however many) new young targets the Seahawks bring in this offseason. Returning to compete for significant playing time after impact-less rookie seasons are 2014 draft picks Paul Richardson (second round) and Kevin Norwood (fourth round). By dint of his Super Bowl performance, Matthews has arguably leaped over the more prestigious former draft picks. On a team like the Seahawks, that counts.
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