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# ‘Getting Better Day By Day,’ Seahawks WR Dareke Young Carving Out Bigger Role Amid Contract Year
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/getting-better-day-by-day-dareke-young-seattle-seahawks-carving-out-bigger-role/
- Published: 2025-08-15T20:05:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:45.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Features, Dareke Young, Seahawks

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1080"\]

![  Seattle Seahawks receiver Dareke Young runs with the football after making a catch during the team’s annual training camp at the VMAC. Credit: Dareke Young/Instagram  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/457861842_3645672159031750_5142812654446994038_n-format-original-1.jpg)

Seattle Seahawks receiver Dareke Young runs with the football after making a catch during the team’s annual training camp at the VMAC. Credit: Dareke Young/Instagram \[/caption\]

RENTON, Wash. - In what has become a tradition under second-year coach Mike Macdonald, at any given point during a training camp practice, the speakers at the VMAC start blaring “Narco” by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet.

Offering the feel of a matador entering the ring with a raging bull, players rush to midfield with Macdonald ready to choose one-on-one matchups either between a receiver/tight end and a defensive back or in the trenches between an offensive and defensive lineman, thrusting two warriors into battle in front of the rest of the team. For a practice setting, it can be quite the pressure cooker.

But certain players crave such moments when all eyes are focused on them. Over the past three weeks, it can be argued nobody embodied that competitive spirit better for the Seahawks than fourth-year receiver Dareke Young, starting with one of the signature plays of this year’s camp on July 29.

Called out by Macdonald to open the one-on-one drill midway through practice, Seattle pitted Young against third-year cornerback Damarion Williams with rookie Jalen Milroe receiving the honors to play quarterback. The 6-2, 225-pound receiver took an outside release with the trumpets booming across the practice fields, quickly getting a step on the opposition on a fade route. But Milroe’s pass fluttered out of his hands and it appeared Williams would be off the hook with a chance to reel in an interception on what amounted to an arm punt.

However, on a catch that would certainly bring back Super Bowl XLII PTSD and subsequent night terrors for Tom Brady, Young did his best David Tyree impression, reaching up to grab the football with his right hand off of the top of Williams’ helmet at the goal line and backpedaling his way into the end zone for the touchdown. Teammates raced down the field to mob the receiver, illustrating how phenomenal of a catch it was in real time.

Not one to waste words or gloat about individual plays, Young downplayed the magnitude of that catch a couple days later. But that has more to do with the fact that it wasn’t a one-off and the former seventh-round pick out of Lenoir Rhyne spent all of camp wowing with circus-worthy catches and showcasing a new level of consistency as a pass catcher.

“It's going good,” Young said bluntly after Seattle’s August 2 practice. “A lot of growth and I feel like I'm just getting better day by day.”

At the outset of camp, even following the exits of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett this past offseason, Young seemed to have become a somewhat forgotten curiosity for the Seahawks. Despite having 90th percentile athletic tools and the type of shredded physique that puts opponents on notice when he exits the team bus, he had caught only two passes in his first three NFL seasons, with both of those receptions coming late in his rookie year in 2022.

After signing Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency and investing draft picks on Tory Horton and Ricky White III, Young appeared to face mounting odds to maintain a spot on Seattle’s 53-man roster heading towards camp. But within the building, coaches remained high on him, valuing his immense special teams talents and still believing he could emerge as a contributor on offense, especially in a new scheme coordinated by Klint Kubiak.

Owing much of his improvement to enhanced flexibility in his upper body through hot yoga that showed up most working out of his breaks on routes, Young started off his fourth training camp on a fantastic note, starting with his Tyree-inspired snag. In that same practice, he again bailed out Milroe on an underthrow, working back to the ball and reaching over the shoulder of cornerback Kam Alexander to steal the pass before turning upfield for long reception north of 30 yards.

Stacking quality day after quality day, including high-pointing a jump ball in the end zone with four defenders surrounding him for a 25-yard touchdown in Seattle’s Football Fest event at Lumen Field, Young scored five touchdowns in a four-practice span. He followed up with an explosive 31-yard reception on a crossing route from Drew Lock during the preseason opener against Las Vegas, setting up Horton for his first career touchdown two plays later.

“Dareke’s had a tremendous camp,” Macdonald said. “He's playing fast. He's playing as confident as he's ever played. He's aggressive with the ball in the air. We felt him on special teams in the game at gunner and he can block as well, which is cool.”

Benefiting from an offensive scheme that does a fantastic job of marrying the run game from a blocking standpoint for receivers with route concepts and releases to make everything look the same and make life tougher on defenders as a result, Young has never felt more comfortable in an NFL uniform, and it has showed day in and day out since camp opened on July 23.

“The game is slowing down for me,” Young remarked. “So I see the defense better. I understand it. I'm able to run my routes a certain way to get open and it's just slowing down.”

In addition to his suddenly potent offensive skill set that has been better accentuated by Kubiak’s scheme, which has allowed him to thrive playing both on the boundary and in the slot, Young continues to be one of the cogs for coordinator Jay Harbaugh’s special teams units as well, which has bolstered his case for not only being on the 53-man roster, but playing a ton of snaps for the Seahawks this season.

Aside from being a renowned gunner on the punt coverage team and a tackle machine on kick coverage, Young has been seeing extensive work as a kick returner alongside Horton with those two players looking to be the current favorites to hold those roles in Week 1\. Cited by Harbaugh as one of the team’s glue guys in the third phase of the game, he also has been practicing catching punts, though it remains to be seen whether he will be needed in that capacity with Horton atop the depth chart for Seattle.

With two preseason games left to play and the season opener against the 49ers less than a month away, Young still has plenty to prove and much left to play for down the stretch heading towards cut down day. The Seahawks have assembled a competitive receiving corps with a bunch of talented youngsters offering different playing styles, making the fight for one of the last spots behind Kupp, Smith-Njigba, and Horton all the more intriguing, and the veteran could use another strong outing against the Chiefs on Friday night to help his cause.

But parsing through the normally reserved Macdonald’s glowing comments on him, Young looks to be on the right side of the roster bubble at this stage. There’s never been a question about his physical tools, work ethic, or football IQ since he first arrived in the league, and he appears to have finally turned the corner and emerged as the player the franchise hoped he could become, evolving into more than just a core special teamer with the explosiveness and versatility to pitch in as a viable playmaker for Kubiak.

As for what the future holds for him, Young isn’t going to fritter away his energy worrying about free agency or what comes next. As confident as he has ever been in the NFL, his focus lies solely on doing whatever he can to make an impact on offense and defense for the Seahawks with a playoff berth and winning games in January as his only goals.

And, along the way, Young will gladly take winning a few more reps under the spotlight with Narco blasting in the background.

“I like to be where my feet are right now in the present moment. I don't like to think too far ahead. I want to stay healthy, play in all 17 games, make a deep run in the playoffs, and bring a Super Bowl to Seattle.”