This is why JSN was important, Seahawks had their choice of any WR they wanted and they took a WR who was billed as an elite Slot WR,
They also took a guy that I think Matt Berry said, if true, once registered 24 MPH in game on the gps. Even if it was 21-22, that is 4.3 to 4.4 speed. It was also said that JSN was advised to not to run or workout at the combine but did so anyway knowing he wasn’t 100%.
If JSN does have at least 4.4 speed and he’s pairing that with insanely elite quickness he’s going to be a YAC monster.
Cooper Kupp in his four first season average close to 900 yards, 6 TDS per year. If JSN is even 2/3rds of that at 600/4 per he’d be the best slot type for the Seahawks since a young Baldwin and Lockett.
Getting the ball in his hands and him being productive with it is only half of the equation, the other half is defenses respecting JSN game and thusly acknowledging his presence. If they got him in man coverage and he has that speed to take top off or if they got him in zone coverage and he using his agility to split the defenders and get to the open spot. He’s going to be a big time headache. If he can command opponents to take him out of the game, you know, it has been said how much that would open up Lockett and Metcalf with better opportunities and that is likely true.
But if JSN is something like capable of taking the slot defender for a loop, freezing a zone read LBer in his wake and then grabbing a safety or two towards his route because your man and zone leverages just got clowned. Just think about how much space that could create in the short to intermediate areas especially in the middle of the field. Think about all those Rams plays where Kupp is doing the same thing but the pass play is going to their TEs or RBs underneath off of decoy pass-protection routes and all of sudden they are open with so much space.
Potentially, JSN is going to help the entire offense not just Lockett or Metcalf being able to get more vertical on the outside with more one on one opps, not just Waldron being able to get more creative with timing and execution based route concepts with his RBs and TEs but think about Walker. The physicality wear and tear of trying to create through a stacked box and defenses being able to meet him before his cut is one of his only weaknesses as a runner. What if defenses can’t entirely sell out because of so much quality to keep track of in Lockett and Metcalf and with JSN being an elite slot, Walker is going to have much better opportunities to be able to be the elite creator he is and perhaps with a better O-line bigger holes to run through.
I just see it. I wasn’t as excited on draft day seeing his name called, I thought it was great value at #20 but I didn’t go through half a year of draft process thinking CB and WR were going to be the 1st rounders either. But I see it now, just think if you added a prime Baldwin or a young Kupp to what this offense already has, that is what I feel JSN will bring.
Waldron/Dickerson have everything they need in place to get their scheme to run on all cylinders, with a plethora of quality personnel and different skill sets at their disposal to be as dynamic, deadly, and dominate as any offense in the league.
A couple of years from now, if the Seahawks try to intercept a big ticket free agent QB by flying their private jet to another franchise’s city and begging for an audience, I don’t think it would get that far, they’d be the destination and the priority. Offense is going to be primed and stacked for any QB moving forward.
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