DK Metcalf just delivered a reminder of why the Seahawks ultimately felt they had to move on. DH

Over the last several years of being a Seahawks fan, one thing that I’ve done my best to avoid partaking in is ‘dunking’ on former Seahawks when they disappoint and fail in their new homes. 

Sour grapes isn’t exactly the right phrase to use, since things have typically gone very poorly for these departed Seahawks, but I find something distasteful and bitter about the practice.

I will confess to taking some pleasure in the absolute bombing of Russell Wilson’s career in Denver, Pittsburgh, and now New York over the last four years, since I did find his behavior and actions highly obnoxious in the last few years of his Seattle career.

And I can’t help but get a bit of a kick in Carroll’s disaster in Las Vegas after some comments he made right after getting fired.

But even then, the attempted revisionist history that some try to apply to the most successful head coach and most successful quarterback in franchise history makes little sense to me

As if a player or coach has to always do exactly the right thing at every possible moment in order to be worthy of praise or commendation.

When it comes to players like Geno Smith or coaches like Shane Waldron, I have been opposed to this practice even more.

I take no enjoyment out of those two having their careers go into the tank right after leaving Seattle, and I also see no point in pretending as if either of them were bad while in Seattle (neither were) just because they left. And I have typically put D.K. Metcalf in that camp as well.

D.K. Metcalf was a late second round draft pick, and entered the league when he was 21-years-old. He had an immediate impact, nearly setting franchise rookie receiving records before making the All-Pro team in his sophomore season.

With each year that went by, he remained well on track to set every major franchise wide receiver record, on a team that employed Steve Largent for fourteen seasons.

Yes, he dropped a few more passes than you’d like to see (although this wasn’t as big of a problem as some suggested). Sure, he struggled to get back to the heights of that 2020 All-Pro year in subsequent seasons.

Yes, there were a ton of penalties, and some mediocre route running. You maybe could have even called him a diva with his personality. But I was a big fan.

I was also fine with the trade to Pittsburgh, although less enthused about the return to Seattle, understanding that Metcalf wasn’t a great fit for the new offense and there was a real chance of the team being stuck in quarterback limbo.

Besides, DK had requested a trade and had just made his request public knowledge, so it probably had to happen regardless.

However, I still defended him and pushed back against the desire some fans had to bash and hate on a player that had given the team 438 receptions, 6,324 yards, 54 touchdowns, and several monster playoff performances in six seasons, four of which featured a very low cap hit.

And if I’m being honest, I think his career-worst production this year is circumstantial more than an indictment on him.

But there’s one thing I clearly need to, as the kids say, take the ‘L’ on, and that’s D.K. Metcalf’s attitude and control of his emotions. It was definitely a problem in Seattle, and any fan of the team could see it.

But I always said that I believed it was overstated, and more importantly, it would get better over time. That’s how human beings work, right? You mature as you get older.

Metcalf entered the league as a 21-year-old, technically an adult but still in many ways a kid. Of course he’d act up and lose control of himself sometimes.

Give him some time to grow up, realize what’s important in this world, and get a grasp of the bigger picture, I’d say. By his late 20s, he’d be a different person, and still have a ton of his career left to take advantage.

I was wrooooooooong.

While D.K. has been mostly restrained this season before today, there was still an eye-poking incident against the Green Bay Packers earlier this season where he went at Quay Walker and got fined for it.

But today, Metcalf had an outburst directed not at another player, or even a coach. Today, he got into a physical altercation with a Detroit Lions fan in the stands.

This is an entirely different level. I’m perfectly willing to accept the occasional unwarranted act of violence against another player. This sport is both emotional and violent.

Fine, reprimand, suspend, and move along. But to go after a fan, who is still in the stands (Bobby Wagner, you’re off the hook), and quite possibly even land a punch or shove on him is something else.

I’m sure the fan was holding an insulting sign and probably said something intended to get under Metcalf’s skin.

But there is a barrier between player and fan that has to be maintained during sporting events, no matter what, and Metcalf most certainly broke it, no matter what the fan did. In many ways, fans pay exorbitant prices to go to games for the right to heckle players.

I won’t compare this to the 2005 Malice at the Palace in any way to suggest there’s a direct equivalency, but I find the overall concept the same.

It crosses a line that might make fans reconsider their decision to want to go to games. I want to be 100% sure that there’s no danger that one of these big, strong, hyper-athletic men is going to assault me in the stands, not 99%.

Looking at the clip, I’m not sure if it’s a punch or a shove, and I’m not sure if Metcalf hit him in the head or the shoulder.

I’m a fan of the phrase ‘distinction without a difference’ here, and based on the very public and clear video clip I’d say that the fan has a pretty good case to sue. I’d also say Metcalf should be suspended for the rest of this season.

What in the world could the fan have said to DK to make him think this was the appropriate action to take? The team you play for is leading the division!

You’re probably going to be in a playoff game in a few weeks! The Steelers gave you a contract with a total value of $132 million less than nine months ago! How has he not matured to the point where these things override his emotions?

I don’t know how he hasn’t. But the fact remains that he hasn’t. Apparently, assaulting a fan in the stands is more important to him than making sure he’s there for the team that bet the farm on him last offseason, with the trade

The contract, and the related trading out of star receiver George Pickens, who is doing a lot more in Dallas than Metcalf has done in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers are probably already regretting the swap based on the production. This kind of thing turns it into an outright disaster. I’m sure they wish they could have it back.

And I’m also sure the Seattle Seahawks are thrilled that they can’t have it back, and are perfectly happy with the way things played out.

I’m still not convinced that the player that was (more or less) acquired in the Metcalf trade, TE Elijah Arroyo, will ever be a star in this league, but the cap space is indisputably opening doors that would be closed if DK was still here.

The trade for Rashid Shaheed probably doesn’t happen with Metcalf, and his likely offseason extension will probably be about half of DK’s.

And even without that, moments like this show that the Seahawks were right to move off of Metcalf before paying him a fortune, and that would probably be true even if he had 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns right now.

He’s not showing signs of growing up and maturing, and maybe I could live with that. But today showed that he’s probably getting worse. And I wouldn’t be able to live with that.