DK Metcalf back with the WRs coach who made him a Seahawks Pro Bowl record setter in 2020

DK Metcalf is doing what a $70 million wide receiver should do to prepare for the coming season.

Barely play in the preseason. And work his swagger into midseason form.

The Seahawks’ newly enriched target has spent much time on the sidelines this summer. First, he was not practicing because he wanted his new contract. Then when he got it, he’s mostly not played in two preseason games.

Has Metcalf spent his down time studying film of Ronald Darby and Pat Surtain, the Denver Broncos cornerbacks he’s going to be facing Sept. 12 in Seattle’s opener? Has he been studying the games and moves of the other corners he has to line up against this season?

“No,” Metcalf said.

“They’ve got to guard me. So that’s how I look at it.”

The, yes, confident 24-year-old Metcalf has been spending a ton of his summer on the sidelines doing extra work with his behind-the-scenes guru.

He’s returned to working with the man Metcalf used to produce the best season of his football life, his Seahawks record-setting season of 2020.

To Metcalf, whether Geno Smith or Drew Lock wins the competition to succeed traded Russell Wilson as the Seahawks’ new quarterback means less than Sanjay Lal being back on coach Pete Carroll’s coaching staff. Lal is back as Metcalf’s and Seattle’s wide receivers coach, after one year away in the same job with Jacksonville.

If you want to see Metcalf’s blinding smile shine brightest, mention coach Sanjay Lal.

“We pretty much think the same way,” Metcalf said before practice Tuesday.

“Whatever he tells me and sees that I need reassurance of it, or I already knew it, Sanjay is really just keeping me accountable and just making sure I’m doing my job.”

How Metcalf, Lal work

Each day, Metcalf works before and after practices with Lal on the intricacies of his position and game. He works hand-fighting against Lal’s large, foam arm pads, to get off press coverage. He drills his footwork through Lal’s challenging jab steps, to get clean releases off the line of scrimmage.

Almost every down moment he’s on the field, Metcalf seeks Lal for more work.

Even at games.

Last week at Lumen Field about 70 minutes before the Seahawks played the Bears in the second preseason game, Metcalf was running under passes to catch at the back corner of the south end zone. Those passes were not from quarterbacks Smith or Lock.

They came from Coach Lal.

“I’ve told people he’s the best receiver I’ve ever been around that took the techniques from practice into the game,” said the 53-year-old Lal, a London native who began coaching in 1996 at Miramonte High School in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“I mean, he’s young in the position, so he’s like a sponge. Whatever you tell him now, let’s add to it. OK, maybe we’re at algebra. Let’s go to algebra two. Let’s go to calculus.

“Because the nuances of reading defenses on the run, all of those things are untapped right now. So, sky’s the limit for him.”

Metcalf says having Lal back coaching him has changed how he has approached his fourth NFL preseason with the Seahawks.

“It’s a lot more in depth and details especially having Sanjay back,” Metcalf said. “He’s going to help me with my production and being not only known as a better player but a better blocker (with) a better understanding of the scheme.”

A breakout season

The last time Lal coached Metcalf, he set a Seahawks record in his second NFL season with 1,303 yards receiving. He made his only Pro Bowl that season.

“I’ll say my second year when Sanjay was here, he really just showed me how to be a better receiver aggressively when the ball is not coming to me. You know, things that I can do off the ball. So just a lot of stuff about the game that I didn’t think about.”

In September of 2020, the Seahawks hosted the New England Patriots in a week two Sunday night game at Lumen Field. It became a shootout between Wilson and Cam Newton, with 685 yards passing and 65 total points between them. The Seahawks tied the game midway through the second quarter on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Metcalf.

It was one of the signature plays of Metcalf’s season, and career.

He beat then-Patriots All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore one on one. Few dudes on the planet did that in 2018, ‘19 and ‘20.

Two years and two jobs later, Lal still marvels at the play on Gilmore, a Metcalf touchdown on Arizona’s Patrick Peterson from that ‘20 season — and Metcalf’s preparation those weeks that made those happen.

“If we ran a stutter-hinge versus Patrick Peterson, how it looked and walked through, how it looked in an individual period, how it looked in team is exactly how it looked against Arizona,” Lal said.

“You can look at the tape. I’ve actually made cut-ups of, here’s how he did it here, and here’s how it looked in the game.

“The Stephon Gilmore ‘V’ route, pylon route that he caught, we’ve got walk-through reps of him running it exactly like that. He had to get a yard inside the hash (mark). He had to get his eyes back for a count, otherwise Stephon would not undercut him. It’s very rare for a receiver under duress, under the lights, to go do that in a game. And he did it perfectly.

“You watch the clip, as soon as he touches the hash, his eyes come back inside, Steph goes underneath, and he puts his foot in the ground and goes over the top. Had it been 1 yard off, that play wouldn’t have worked. Even with all that precision, it was still a bang-bang play downfield.

“So he’s the best I’ve seen at that.”

Metcalf remembers Lal’s work with him that Patriots game week before he beat Gilmore.

“We practiced that route probably 10 times that whole week from film study, to talking about it, to doing it on the field during walk-thru, and actually doing it during practice,” Metcalf said. “And it translated to the game.

“So, I mean he’s very in-depth about what he sees on film and about a plan going into the game with a plan. So you don’t think about anything. You just do what you’ve been doing in practice the whole week.”

Lal said the key to Metcalf’s breakout 2020 season — and what he’ll be reminding him of for this season: body positioning.

“One of the big things we worked on in 2020 was his body posture and drive phase,” Lal said. “If you look at 2020 film, he was really good at stance and start and coming off the ball with a low lean.

“As a long lever guy, if you have that low pad level at the top of the break, it makes your route cuts much more efficient. So he did a great job in 2020 on that.”

More play time Friday?

Metcalf and fellow top wide receiver Tyler Lockett have played just three plays this preseason. That was one three-and-out possession to start the game against Chicago last week.

Metcalf joked he and Carroll have made up over him getting just three plays against the Bears.

“Yeah,” Metcalf said, smiling, “we are back on good terms.”

Metcalf says “I’m supposed to be playing Friday” in the Seahawks’ preseason finale at Dallas. Carroll has said he’s switched this week from developing younger players to focusing on getting his veteran starters ready for the real games. That suggests the starting offense will play intact for longer against the Cowboys Friday than Carroll usually plays veterans in a final preseason game.

Carroll also said Lock will play “a lot” Friday. He missed last week’s scheduled start against Chicago because he tested positive for COVID-19. He returned from quarantine Sunday.

Lock has been with the second-team offense for most of training camp. The practices Monday and Tuesday have been the first time since he arrived as part of the Wilson trade in March that Lock has alternated with Smith series with the starting offense.

The question for the Dallas game remains whether Lock will play his promised extended time while Metcalf and the starters are playing with him.

Metcalf and Lock have noticeably been working on their rapport in recent practices. Sunday after cornerback John Reid knocked away his pass to Metcalf in end zone in a red-zone scrimmage, Lock and Metcalf went to a side field during a team water break to throw the same route a few more times, by themselves.

“He’s a very down-to-earth person. He loves football, loves the game, and he’s very studious,” Metcalf said of Lock. “I know every time I’m here during the off day, he’s always in here, him and Geno along with (third QB) Jake Eason. I mean, that room is very competitive and they’re going to be really good for each other.”

Does he feel Lock needs more reps with the ones to make this QB derby a truer competition?

“I don’t need to see nothing,” Metcalf said.

“Pete just left. So that’s a question for him.”