‘I Can Do Everything': Montorie Foster Jr. Relishing Second Chance as Seahawks’ Biggest Camp Surprise
SEATTLE, Wash. - Taking the snap and moving the pocket slightly to his left, Jalen Milroe scanned the field midway through the Seattle Seahawks’ annual Fan Fest practice at Lumen Field, setting his back foot and launching the football deep down the left sideline.
Normally an excellent downfield passer with a powerful arm, Milroe’s throw seemed to catch a bit too much of the wrong current, running out of steam as the ball floated several yards short of his intended target in receiver Montorie Foster Jr. Most of the time, an incompletion would be the best case scenario on such a badly underthrown go ball, and with two defenders in the area, an interception almost seemed probable as the pass started to descend towards the turf.
However, showing great awareness tracking the football, Foster astutely worked back towards the pass with safety D’Anthony Bell not being privy to the ball coming up several yards short through the air. Taking advantage of Bell’s back being turned to the ball, the second-year wideout reeled the pass in along the sideline and then turned back inside, managing to sprint past two defenders before turning back upfield and outracing the rest of the converging defense for an unexpected 48-yard touchdown reception.
Becoming an expert at turning the unexpected into reality during his first full training camp with the Seahawks, Foster’s latest efforts didn’t surprise Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, who has reached the point where he’s run out of words to describe the upstart wideout’s emergence as he continues to stack strong practice after strong practice.
“I'm seeing the same thing as you guys are,” Macdonald said of Foster, who drew praise from receiver Rashid Shaheed after Friday’s practice. “It's great. He's doing a great job for himself. He just really is. I don't have anything else to add, except he's doing a phenomenal job.”
Before camp opened last month, few could have possibly had Foster making a run at a roster spot on their bingo card, especially in one of the deepest receiver rooms in the NFL lead by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Shaheed, and Cooper Kupp. The Seahawks signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft and he only lasted a couple of camp practices before suffering an injury, leading to the team waiving him with an injury settlement.
While the injury wasn’t a significant one, no other teams signed him before the start of the regular season, and Foster was left to do some soul-searching while still remaining hopeful he would get another shot. Quickly recovering from the injury, he began substitute teaching at a local high school back near his hometown in Cleveland, Ohio and worked to obtain his real estate license, doing his due diligence preparing for life after football and continuing to train as he awaited a call from an NFL team.
The warm temperatures of September gave way to the fall and Foster’s phone remained silent through October and into the holiday season. By the time Christmas rolled around, the NFL calendar had hit Week 16 and as he continued to teach on a daily basis, his chances of latching on with a team diminished by day.
“It definitely was different,” Foster said of his strange rookie season, which included coaching football on the side to go with substitute teaching in freshman and junior classes. “It was just something for me to just keep my mind off of football, but still, I'm still working out and stuff during the day, and then I was doing that on my off time.”
But as New Year’s Eve approached in late December, Foster packed up his car and began driving northwest to see his girlfriend in Michigan to spend the holidays together. As he approached the state line, a phone number with a Seattle area code popped up on his screen. Sure enough, with the restrictions of his injury settlement preventing him from re-signing with the team over a certain period of time now passed, the Seahawks had come calling, offering him an opportunity to come back to town as a member of the practice squad.
Knowing that his girlfriend and the rest of his family would be more than understanding of the circumstances, Foster quickly turned around on the highway and got on the Ohio turnpike. Within a matter of hours, as the player recalled the “crazy” 24-hour span, he hopped on a flight to the Emerald City, rejoining the Seahawks just in time for the final playoff push.
Over the next month and change, Foster didn’t get to suit up for any of Seattle’s final three regular season games or the three playoff victories that culminated with a Super Bowl title. However, the experience of being able to practice with the eventual champions and go against the likes of Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe on a daily basis for seven weeks gave him a unique head start compared to many free agents left on the sidelines hoping for another chance, helping boost his comfort level against NFL competition after several months without a team.
Re-signed to a future/reserve deal mere days after the Super Bowl, with his name on the team’s title banner in the indoor facility, Foster built off of that momentum once the Seahawks returned to action for OTAs in April, enjoying a stellar offseason program. Ever since camp started, the only constant has seemingly been No. 87 finding the end zone on a daily basis, as he scored five touchdowns during team scrimmage periods in the first 10 practices before adding another one in Saturday’s showcase at Lumen.
Such performances have generated deserved praise from multiple teammates, including Shaheed and Bell, who each name dropped him as the under-the-radar receiver that has impressed them the most. Not too shabby for a player who was in a classroom just eight months earlier with his football career hanging in the balance.
“I just had a standard in my head that I'm just trying to attack every day,” Foster remarked. “So when I step on that field, I'm just trying to do the best job that I can do. It don't matter if I score a touchdown or not, I'm going out there playing my best football. And I'm glad guys are starting to recognize me a little bit. For sure, it's been great.”
Leaning on his faith and wanting to stay humble, Foster was hesitant to brag on his own talents when speaking with the Emerald City Spectrum, preferring to talk about the team and how he can help Seattle win games by any means necessary. This includes making his mark on special teams, doing everything from returning kicks to covering punts as a gunner to rushing off the edge trying to block a punt.
During his time in East Lansing, Foster flashed in the third phase of the game with somewhat limited playing time due to his key role on offense, returning seven punts for 122 yards and six punts for 50 yards while adding five tackles on kick and punt coverage. Seahawks coordinator Jay Harbaugh has been mixing him in as a kick returner and gunner during the first two weeks of practice, positioning him to make a run at a spot on the 53 if he can win those jobs.
With that said, Foster isn’t short on confidence in his ability as a pass catcher either, and he shouldn’t be given how well he has performed in the first two weeks of training camp, putting him squarely on the map as a legitimate contender to make the squad.
“I feel like I can do everything,” Foster smiled. “Not to just toot my horn, but I just feel like I can run good routes. I'm fast. I got good hands. So I'm just showing all my tools in my toolbox.”
In regard to what has keyed Foster’s surprise ascendance this summer, aside from his hard work training and preparing for the opportunity last year even without a team to practice with, the young receiver once again referenced his extended stint practicing with the Seahawks into February as a major boost for his career. Those reps proved to be invaluable for a player who didn’t start playing football until his senior year of high school.
Foster also credited Cooper Kupp, the ultimate coach on and off the field, for being a mentor and taking him under his wing. Far from the first player to gush about the former All-Pro’s influence, he lauded the veteran’s perfect approach to practice and attacking all the fine details, including prioritizing the dirty work as a blocker in the run game on the outside, trying his best to emulate that work ethic and attentiveness in his own game as a receiver who plays both on the outside and in the slot.
“He's just a pro, like a true pro, man,” Foster explained. “And just learned a lot about just reading coverages, just how to practice hard and how to block downfield. He just does everything right. It seems like he doesn't do anything wrong. He's one of those guys. I've just been learning so much from him.”
Down the line, Foster may have interest in returning to the classroom once he’s ready to hang up his cleats, as he found a sense of refuge there he dealt with the harsh reality of not being with a team during the meat of the NFL season last year. He will always have gratitude for that experience helping carry him through a difficult time. Selling real estate may also be part of his future.
But as he continues to make a name for himself at Seahawks training camp, including tying up rookie cornerback Andre Fuller in knots on a dominant 1-on-1 rep that resulted in a walk-in touchdown on Saturday, Foster has his sights on teaching defensive players a trick or two with his route running skills between the lines, not stepping in as a substitute or selling houses this time around. And with the preseason just around the corner offering another set of auditions for him to impress, he hopes that achieving such success will have a positive impact from afar on those who he taught last fall, including one student who he tutored that didn’t make the freshman basketball team last season.
Still fighting to make his dreams come true, Foster continues to lead by example for those who need a pick-me-up, and as he’s proving day in and day out in Seattle, anything can happen with a positive attitude, a willingness to learn, and a strong dose of perseverance. Confident in his chances of sticking around this time around, even with an abundance of quality competitors vying for one or two roster spots, he hopes to keep lifting the spirits of others making plays for the defending champs in the regular season this fall.
“It's just building my foundation, which is my faith. So I'm really huge on that. Every day I just build my faith and my foundation, and I feel like whatever comes towards me or whatever storm or sunshine comes toward me, I'm just prepared for anything. So it's just me always just staying positive, always staying humble, and just understanding that it can't rain forever. Sunshine comes soon.”
