Seahawks Free Agency: 5 Targets to Bolster Receiving Corps

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New York Giants receiver Darius Slayton catches a pass during warmups prior to a regular season game. Credit: Alexander Jonesi Photography [/caption]

Steering towards the annual NFL combine in Indianapolis, the Seattle Seahawks and all 32 teams will soon be ramping up negotiations behind the scenes in preparation for free agency, which will officially open on March 12 with the start of the legal tampering period.

For the better part of a decade, the Seahawks have benefited from strong receiver play, including the duo of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett each surpassing the 1,000-yard mark in the same season twice. Last season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba emerged as a 1,000-yard weapon in his own right, leading the NFL in receptions and receiving yards from the slot and landing on the map as a future superstar to watch.

But with Lockett coming off a down season with just 49 catches and two touchdowns and carrying a $30-plus million cap hit for 2025, it has been speculated that the iconic wideout has played his final game with the franchise, while Metcalf himself may face some uncertainty going into the final year of his own contract. After years of continuity at the position, major changes could be on the horizon.

With Lockett’s future uncertain, which free agent receivers could help fill the void left if he departs? Here are five free agent targets who could be on the radar for the Seahawks as they look to restock the receiving corps with contract projections courtesy of Spotrac:

Elijah Moore, Cleveland Browns

Spotrac Market Value: 1 year, $4,543,519

The latest electric wideout to come out of Ole Miss behind the likes of DK Metcalf and A.J. Brown, Moore erupted for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns in his final college season and ran a blazing 4.35 40-yard dash and 6.67 3-cone drill at his pro day, rapidly climbing draft board before the Jets selected him in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He flashed his potential as a rookie, posting 538 yards and five touchdowns in just 11 games, but he became aggravated by his lack of targets and snaps the following season. Demanding a trade, the Browns acquired him and a third-round pick for a second-round pick and he produced 1,138 yards and three touchdowns in the last two years of his rookie deal.

Up to this point, Moore hasn’t come close to living up to his pre-draft billing, though poor circumstances at quarterback have played into his underwhelming production. Last season, he caught only two out of 13 targets on passes traveling 20-plus yards, but he did catch five such passes for 151 yards in his first year in Cleveland, teasing his big play potential. Averaging just 3.2 yards after the catch per receptions for his career, he hasn’t been the weapon most scouts anticipated that he would be with the ball in his hands either, in part due to him being victimized by shaky play from Deshaun Watson and a host of bad quarterbacks who have often left him hung out to dry on targets.

Turning just 25 years old in March, Moore hasn’t done enough on the field to justify a multi-year deal with significant guaranteed money and some teams may be hesitant to bring him on board given the fact he forced his way out of New York, which created a narrative that he isn’t a team player. But he offers many of the same physical traits and a comparable skill set to Lockett and reuniting him with Metcalf to catch passes from a superior quarterback in Geno Smith could be the recipe to finally unlock his upside as a low cost flier who could pay major dividends.

Darius Slayton, New York Giants

Spotrac Market Value: 3 years, $47,305,287

An under the radar prospect coming out of Auburn, Slayton slipped to the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft before the Giants selected him and he quickly emerged as one of fellow rookie Daniel Jones’ favorite targets, catching 48 passes for 748 yards and a team-best eight touchdowns. While he looked the part of a future No. 1 wideout, however, he never surpassed the 800-yard mark in his next five seasons in New York and didn’t come close to replicating the touchdown production of his rookie campaign during that span, tantalizing in spurts only to disappear for long stretches as part of an anemic passing game.

A textbook definition of feast or famine throughout his career, 12 of Slayton’s 21 touchdown receptions have come on deep balls traveling 20 or more yards through the air, including six scoring receptions of 40-plus yards. Since his rookie season, among receivers with at least 400 targets, he ranks third behind Brown and Mike Williams averaging 15 yards per reception and fifth in yards before the catch per reception (10.8), further evidence of his big play capabilities as a downfield threat. But he has also been unreliable at times, ranking seventh among receivers in drop percentage (6.1 percent) during that same six-year span according to Pro Football Reference.

Similar to Moore, Slayton’s ceiling has been capped due to circumstances around him, as the Giants have suffered from dismal quarterback play for most of his time in the NFL. Still only 28 years old and offering the flexibility to create explosives from the boundary or slot, he would be an intriguing replacement option for Lockett as a change of pace target rotating in with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, giving opponents another weapon to worry about that could make it tougher to bracket Metcalf and open things up for the star wideout.

Tutu Atwell, Los Angeles Rams

Spotrac Market Value: 1 year, $4,047,570

One of college football’s most dynamic playmakers, Atwell burst onto the scene during his sophomore season at Louisville, snagging 70 passes for 1,276 yards and 12 touchdowns. An injury prevented him from equaling those numbers in 2020, but he still scored eight combined touchdowns in nine games and opted to declare early for the NFL Draft, landing with the Rams as a second round selection. Not ready for prime time, he had an unofficial “redshirt” as a rookie with no catches in eight games, gradually becoming more productive as a third/fourth complementary receiver over the past three seasons, including setting career-highs with 42 receptions for 562 yards in 2024.

Making Lockett look like a giant, the diminutive 5-9, 165-pound Atwell could be blown over by a gust of wind and wins with elite speed and quickness, but his propensity for chunk plays at Louisville hasn’t always translated at the next level. Some of that has had to do with limited targets in the same offense as Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, however, and he has been effective when given chances to take the top off of defenses vertically, evidenced by his seven catches for 225 yards and 32.1 yards per reception on throws of 20-plus yards through the air in 2023. Even this past season, he turned 10 such targets into six catches for 161 yards and he ranks 15th among receivers since 2021 averaging 10.6 yards before the catch per reception.

Considering his size, Atwell likely will never provide much of an impact as a yards after the catch maestro unless he snags the ball in space with room to run. But after being stuck in Kupp and Nacua’s shadow, a change of scenery to team up with a prolific deep ball passer like Smith in Seattle could help maximize his strengths and in Klint Kubiak’s offense, he could also be utilized as an exciting gadget weapon on jet sweeps and reverses in the run game.

Joshua Palmer, Los Angeles Chargers

Spotrac Market Value: 3 years, $12,799,089

A clear case of talent not equaling production at the college level, Palmer never surpassed 500 receiving yards in four seasons at Tennessee, but he showed enough on film to warrant a third-round selection by the Chargers in 2021. Benefiting from a major upgrade at quarterback catching passes from Justin Herbert, he caught four touchdowns as a rookie and followed up with a breakout sophomore season producing a career-high 769 yards on 72 catches. Over the past two seasons, in part due to missing extensive time with injuries, he wasn’t able to repeat those numbers, but he still had over 500 receiving yards both years while averaging 15 yards per catch.

Possessing good size at 6-2, 210 pounds, while Palmer isn’t a burner with track speed, he has enough juice to consistently create downfield and presents a quality jump ball threat against smaller cornerbacks with six career touchdown receptions on deep balls traveling 20-plus yards. He won’t produce many broken tackles or make defenders miss often after the catch and has been prone to an occasional focus drop, but he’s an interesting mix of deep ball threat and possession receiver jumbled into one that can fit into a variety of different schemes, hauling in 107 first down receptions and 23 contested catches in his career thus far.

If the Seahawks seek a player with a toolbox similar to Lockett, Palmer won’t fit the bill in some ways. But he’s a rock solid route runner who has proven himself capable of winning downfield using his size and athleticism to his advantage and with a background of succeeding both on the outside and in the slot as a chain mover, the 25-year old would be a worthwhile investment on a multi-year deal as a potential upgrade behind Metcalf and Smith-Njigba.

Rondale Moore, Atlanta Falcons

Spotrac Market Value: 1 year, $1,516,463

Gobbling up targets in bunches and electrifying after the catch, Moore garnered All-American honors as a freshman at Purdue with 114 receptions for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns, only for injuries and COVID to limit his production over the next two seasons. Declaring for the draft early, the Cardinals invested a second-round pick in him seeking a game-changing difference maker both in the passing and run game, but he never seemed to quite mesh with former coach Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, often being relegated to throws behind the line of scrimmage and jet sweeps while recording 1,201 receiving yards and three touchdowns in his first three seasons before being traded to Atlanta and missing the entire 2024 season with a knee injury.

When healthy, the powerful 5-7, 180-pound Moore has done extensive damage with the ball in his hands, manufacturing 951 yards after the catch and averaging seven yards after the catch per reception in his NFL career. Capable of breaking through arm tackles like a pinball as well as making would-be tacklers whiff in space, he forced 27 missed tackles on 135 receptions while logging roughly a third of his snaps out of the slot. While he won’t be mistaken as a dynamic vertical threat, he also has been underutilized in the intermediate and deep passing game, including catching two touchdowns on 20-plus yard passes on just 16 career targets in that capacity.

Players coming off of severe injury carry more risk than other free agents, and Moore’s durability concerns date back to his college career, so any team bringing him on board likely will offer an incentive-laden one-year prove it deal. If he can stay on the field, however, he has difference making speed and explosiveness as a gadget weapon who can contribute in a myriad of ways and also can make an impact as a kick and punt returner, which would check off two boxes for the Seahawks heading towards 2025.