The 2019 Seattle Seahawks will be on a major mission to retake the NFC West. Ignore any takes that say this team isn’t loaded on offense. They are. Anytime you have Russell Wilson as your quarterback, you’re dangerous (it’s his nickname for cripes sake), but also, this team has weapons. Reason 12 why these Seahawks make the postseason is definitely one of them, and he is poised to take it to the next level.

Wide Receiver David Moore.

Why is Moore poised to make an impact?

He is an freaky athletic receiver who will be in his third year in the league, and that is usually the time when athletically gifted yet raw pass catchers coming out of college click. Think I’m wrong? Just look at the Seahawk’s recent history with wideouts Golden Tate and Paul Richardson. Year three was when it clicked, especially for Tate, and David Moore totally has Tate like abilities to high point balls and run after the catch instincts.

Often times in college, the athletically freakish types make their coaches’ jobs easy. Essentially, they’re kinda just told to go run around and make plays. Then they get to the NFL and suddenly it’s not easy, and if they can’t pick up the basic route trees, they don’t see the field much. That’s why it’s so hard to project receivers coming into the league if they are not coming out of prostyle offenses.

This was the case for Tate as a rookie, and it was even more that way for Moore up until last year, his second year, when he had a bit of an early breakout before things drastically tapered off for him the second half of the season. Still, 26 catches for 445 yards with 5 touchdowns and an average of 17 yards per catch says something. While he was 9 catches shorter than Tate’s in his second year, he had 63 more yards and 2 more touchdowns.

It will be interesting to see what 2019 has for Moore. Will he evolve beyond the go patterns he ran down the sidelines, or will he get lost in rookie DK Metcalf’s impact? My guess is that David Moore will have a breakout this year.

This isn’t just shameless wishful thinking on my end, I think there’s some proof in the tea leaves. When Doug Baldwin called it a career right before the 2019 NFL draft, I thought it was pretty obvious that Seattle would target wide receiver in the coming draft, and to no surprise, they took three. However, I also anticipated that Seattle would be active in the veteran market, especially considering the former Seattle receiver Jermaine Kearse (one of Russell’s favorite targets) was sitting out there available. Well, the Kearse signing never happened, even though Seattle had the cap space to afford him. I found that fairly curious.

Then as their Spring minicamp came to a close last month, the team had Moore give a press conference to reporters. It’s worth the watch to get a vibe on Moore, but more to the point is that this team is very calculated in whom they roll out the pressers with. They’re almost always reserved for star players, core players, and players that they believe are on the verge of being major factors for the team. It was revealed in Pete Carroll’s presser that day that Moore has been taking on a much more expansive roll, now had a grasp of all the routes and roles that the receivers play, and the team’s expecting big things out of him.

Clearly, the team feels he is due a major breakout. My hunch is that Metcalf will be tasked to run a lot of go patterns to threaten the top of the defenses they are playing, and that Lockett and Moore will work more underneath while both having the ability to go vertical. If Metcalf can pick up just enough of the route tree as a rookie, this is going to pose a major problem for defenses. Seattle will have three receivers on the field with the ability to stretch defenses, and also have the ability to work underneath, and with a guy like Moore, they got a guy who has very special run after the catch ability.

Golden Tate, at his best in Seattle, was a level one playmaker once the ball got into his hands, and I think that is kind of Moore’s overall potential. If the team is right, and this guy has a full grasp of the routes, that is a major step forward for him, and it is a huge shot in the arm for this passing attack post Angry Doug Baldwin.

I’m excited about these 2019 Seattle Seahawks, and David Moore is a big reason why. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Go Hawks.