The Seattle Seahawks wide receiver room has a clear No. 1 in 23-year-old pro bowler Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN) and a clear No. 2 in Super Bowl LVI MVP Cooper Kupp, but there are 10 total competing for just 3 starting spots, 5 total roster spots and 2-3 practice squad spots.
Tory Horton and Marquez Valdez-Scantling (MVS) are the top two competitors heading into Friday’s preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Seahawks Wire’s own Justin Melo wrote about Horton’s rising stock and MVS’ unclear workload. Here are each of their keys to successfully carve out their roles in Preseason Week 2.
Tory Horton
Horton was one of last Thursday’s biggest breakouts for the Seahawks in the preseason opener. He caught 3 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown, while also breaking 3 tackles on the touchdown after breaking 3 tackles on his first ever punt return. Horton has been receiving rave reports from the defensive backfield since the beginning of August, from Nick Emmanwori saying he’s “going to be the steal of the draft,” to Riq Woolenshouting “Jerry Rice Jr.!” at him in passing. He’s been with the starters in Smith-Njigba and Kupp since his breakout on Thursday and shows no signs of slowing down.
Horton’s key on Friday is to get more in sync with Drew Lock, particularly on the same out route that Las Vegas Raiders safety Isaiah Pola-Mao read and jumped for a pick last Thursday. While Horton and fellow thin rookie route technician Kyle Williams can be a “quarterback’s best friend” over the middle of the field, the NFL windows are much tighter than college- so the timing and chemistry on the throw and route break must be far crisper to succeed. It’s tough to criticize and find growing pains but Horton’s expectations are rapidly rising.
Marquez Valdez-Scantling
While Marquez Valdez-Scantling is a 30-year-old veteran brought in to replace DK Metcalf’s verticality and stretch defenses deep, he doesn’t have the versatility of Horton. He does two vital things at a sporadically dominant level to fill a role of need. He will undoubtedly get loose a few times while going long but will rely on the element of surprise too much to be consistent.
He needs to make more of an impact than the season opener to expand a one-dimensional skillset, but it’s one Klint Kubiak found ways to utilize last year in New Orleans as the Saints offensive coordinator.
Just look at this 41-yard bomb (Play, 0:13 seconds into video) he drew up and MVS executed with three Atlanta Falcons defenders trailing him.
MVS averaged a career-high 21.6 yards per reception (ypc) last season with the Buffalo Bills and Saints, and led the league with the Green Bay Packers with 20.9 in 2021.
It’ll actually be advantageous for him not to play every down and fit even more explosiveness into fewer plays. That bomb above came on 3rd-and-5 when the Falcons bit on the run. Having a more defined role as a size-and-speed WR4 with Horton as a versatile WR3 complement each other well. He is at his best when it’s least expected and just needs to take advantage of the extra attention on Horton to boom for more volume.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks WR’s Tory Horton and MVS keys for preseason week 2 vs Chiefs
