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Top 2025 Training Camp Storylines: Who Steps Up In A New-Look WR Corps Behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba & Cooper Kupp?

The Seahawks made some big changes at receiver this offseason, which should lead to some good competition behind the top couple of targets in that group.

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With Seahawks training camp kicking off next week, Seahawks.com is counting down, in no particular order, 10 of the most intriguing storylines, position battles and players heading into the 2025 season. So far, we've looked at the return game, tight end, safety, the running game and linebacker, and today we turn our attention to receiver. Check back tomorrow when we focus on cornerback.

Key Receiver Additions: Cooper Kupp (free agent), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (free agent), Tory Horton (fifth-round pick), Ricky White III (seventh-round pick), Steven Sims (free agent).

Key Receiver Departures: DK Metcalf (traded to Pittsburgh), Tyler Lockett (released, signed with Tennessee).

A week before the start of free agency, the Seahawks parted ways with a franchise icon, releasing receiver Tyler Lockett in a salary cap-related move. A week later, another standout receiver, DK Metcalf, was traded to the Steelers after requesting a trade out of Seattle.

The plan going into the offseason wasn't to overhaul that position group—as general manager and president of football operations John Schneider explained, Plan A was to sign Metcalf to a contract extension, but instead he asked for a trade—but the way things played out, the Seahawks will indeed look very different at that position group.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the team's leading receiver and a Pro Bowler last season, returns as what he was already becoming last season—an elite No. 1 receiver—but beyond him, the position group will have a different feel. Longtime Rams standout and Yakima native Cooper Kupp was signed not long after the decision was made to trade Metcalf, and he figures to be Seattle's other starting receiver along with Smith-Njigba.

While Kupp has battled injuries since a standout 2021 season in which he was named the league's Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Pro, he has remained productive when healthy, and he comes into this camp healthy and with a skillset and work ethic that has impressed coaches and teammates early in his Seahawks tenure.

"He's in there early, he's staying late, asking a lot of great questions," offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said. "He just leads — leads by example right now. He's in there early with the quarterbacks, and it's hard to get him out of the building. He wants to be great. All of his tangibles and intangibles are rubbing off on the younger guys."

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While the assumption is that Kupp and Smith-Njigba will see the most playing time and targets, things are less clearcut after that. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a deep-ball threat who found success last season playing in Kubiak's New Orleans offense, heads into camp as one of the favorites to be the third receiver, but he could face competition from the likes of Jake Bobo and, when he's fully healthy, rookie Tory Horton, a highly productive pass-catcher at Colorado State who offers the field-stretching speed the Seahawks are looking for to complement the skillsets of Smith-Njigba and Kupp.

On Valdes-Scantling, who had 385 yards and four touchdowns in eight games for the Saints last season, Kubiak said, "I just saw a really intelligent guy that could play all the spots and make plays. Came to us in the middle of the season, learned a new system, and just really impressed with his intellect and type of teammate that he was. He's picked up right where he left off."

If Horton is going to push for a significant role in the offense, he'll have some catching up to do, having missed on-field work in the offseason workout program while making his way from a knee injury that cut short in senior season, but he has the talent to work his way into that conversation.

"Tory is an underrated guy, in our opinion," Schneider said after the draft. "I mean, he can return punts, the catch radius, he's this long competitive, very fast receiver."

And Valdes-Scantling, Bobo and Horton aren't the only receivers competing for roles behind Smith-Njigba and Kupp. Cody White, who spent most of last season on the practice squad, came through with some big plays on offense and special teams when his number was called, and Dareke Young, a special teams standout in his three seasons, will be looking to show he's ready to do more on offense. Rookie Ricky White III was a special teams star at UNLV, blocking four punts last season, giving him a great shot to make the team, while free-agent signing Steven Sims will be a top candite for punt and kick return jobs.

It's no wonder that Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, when asked about competitions he's most excited about in training camp, mentioned receiver first. The Seahawks have an accomplished top two in Smith-Njigba and Kupp, and beyond that, there's an intriguing mix of veterans and young players who will be battling for roles in camp.

Check out the best photos from the Seahawks offseason workout program that began in April and ended after the team's mandatory minicamp in June.

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