SEATTLE — The question is not whether DK Metcalf helps the Seahawks win.

It's whether a trade might help them even more.

To address that question, let's first consider some relevant context. Of the four teams with surviving Super Bowl dreams, which of their wide receivers crack the top 50 in three basic categories?

Receptions

20. Terry McLaurin, WAS (82)

27. Khalil Shakir, BUF (76)

36. DeVonta Smith, PHI (68)

37. AJ Brown, PHI (67)

Receiving yards

15. Terry McLaurin, WAS (1,096)

17. AJ Brown, PHI (1,079)

37. DeVonta Smith, PHI (833)

40. Khalil Shakir, BUF (821)

Receiving TD

2. Terry McLaurin, WAS (13)

24. AJ Brown, PHI (7)

42. Xavier Worthy, KC (6)

50. Mack Hollins, BUF (5)

Overwhelmingly, the league's most productive wide receivers will watch Sunday's games from home.

So then, in 2025, what's an elite (and expensive) wide receiver worth? Aside from Kansas City — which rode a consistent defense and a clutch QB (plus, perhaps, favorable fortune) to a 15-2 record — the other finalists got this far with a relentless running game. Philadelphia (second in the NFL in rushing offense, fifth in yards per carry, second in rush TD), Buffalo (9th, 11th, 1st) and Washington (3rd, 4th, 4th) would rather run you ragged than lob rainbows and hope to draw pass interference penalties.

The Chiefs sit second in the NFL in offensive line spending ($60.7 million) ... while the Seahawks sit second-to-last ($12.7 million). Seattle also averaged 4.1 yards per carry (19th), 95.7 rushing yards per game (28th) and 22.5 attempts (29th).

Oh, and the Seahawks spent more on their wide receivers — $69.8 million — than any team in the league in 2024, according to spotrac.com.

Philosophically, should the Seahawks follow a different formula? They can save $17 million by releasing Tyler Lockett, an expected move at the expense of a beloved veteran. Cutting or trading Metcalf before June 1 would save $10.875 million but result in a $21 million dead cap hit.

The goal would be to shift resources from the Seahawks' wide receivers to their offensive line, thus fostering an improved running game and providing quarterback Geno Smith with added time. That would benefit the tailback tandem of Kenneth Walker III and Zack Charbonnet, while further spotlighting emerging wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

After all, Smith-Njigba — not Metcalf — took the reins in the wide receiver room in 2024. The 22-year-old — who still has two seasons left on his rookie deal — topped all Seahawks in targets (137), receptions (100), receiving yards (1,130) and receiving touchdowns (6). He excelled while Metcalf was sidelined with an MCL sprain — exploding for seven catches, 180 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a 26-20 overtime loss to the Rams on Nov. 3.

Metcalf delivered a decidedly uneven season. The sixth-year pro crossed the 100-yard mark in three of the Seahawks' first four games, but that efficiency faded after he returned from injury. In their final eight games, Metcalf managed an average of 3.9 catches and 53 receiving yards per contest, with two total touchdowns.

Is Metcalf — who finished with 66 catches, 992 receiving yards and five touchdowns across 15 games — worthy of the $18.471 million non-guaranteed base contract he's set to earn in 2025? Or of the new deal he will clearly covet, as he enters the final season of a three-year extension?

This week, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler predicted after speaking with NFL executives, scouts and personnel that Metcalf will be traded to the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason.

"The Seahawks can still get good value for him," an anonymous NFL coordinator reportedly told ESPN.

A Metcalf trade — and the accompanying cap hit — only makes sense with a significant return.

Despite the above argument, there are only so many players opposing defensive coordinators must specifically scheme to stop. There are only so many 6-foot-4, 235-pound terminators who can take the top off a defense, or steamroll a safety. There are only so many 27-year-olds with three 1,000-yard seasons already on their resume. There are only so many receivers with an athletic ceiling that somehow stretches into space.

And, if you have one, you better not give them away.

"There were some explosives where he really tilted the game in our favor, and that's really the vision we have for him. We just wish we could have done it more consistently," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said of Metcalf's season. "Going into the Atlanta game, before he got his knee banged up, he was tops in the league in probably dang near every category. We wish we could have kept that going when he got back.

"So those are the things we're looking to build off with DK. He's such a force out there. It's not just good enough to get the coverage tilted to him. We have to figure out more ways to get him the ball consistently and let him impact the game with the ball in his hands, rather than just moving coverage that way."

That's the job of the Seahawks' new offensive coordinator, whoever it will be.

It's the job of general manager John Schneider to decide if Metcalf is still around for Macdonald's second season.

That decision could come with consequences. Should the Seahawks shed Metcalf and Lockett, who will complement Smith-Njigba in the wide receiver room? After four wideouts were taken in the first 40 picks of last April's draft, the upcoming crop is not nearly as deep. The Seahawks' existing options — namely, Jake Bobo — compiled 13 catches, 107 yards and one touchdown in 2024.

Metcalf is not a perfect player. For his size, he struggles to complete contested catches, while being prone to occasional emotional outbursts. His route-running stung the Seahawks at times throughout the season as well.

He's also an asset, and not one the Seahawks should part with lightly.

But if it provides opportunity to immediately, meaningfully, improve up front ... then a Metcalf trade is one the Seahawks must consider.

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