Primetime is where the stars are made, and two of the Seattle Seahawks' most promising young pass-catchers made a fantastic first impression on Sunday Night Football.
While enjoying a practically perfect performance of quarterback Sam Darnold in the first half, rookies Tory Horton and Elijah Arroyo found their way into the end zone for two of his four passing touchdowns. Horton picked up his fourth and fifth receiving touchdowns of his first season, while Arroyo caught the first of his career.
Those two might not be grabbing the same volume production as Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the top of the target priority, but that might just help highlight the comfortable pace of their growth early in their careers.
Breakout moments proving Seattle Seahawks’ youth can make a real impact
Starting with Arroyo, the second-round tight end has been a bit slower out of the gate than some Seahawks fans may have hoped. Still, he’s only received five fewer targets and caught seven fewer passes than A.J. Barner, who’s having a bit of a breakout season of his own as the team’s top tight end.
Still, his touchdown was everything Seahawks fans were excited to see out of him when his name was called back in April. As an in-line tight end, he flew past a defender who played him much too tightly before Darnold ripped the seam throw to meet Arroyo at the goalline. The rookie had to double-clutch the catch, but he showed excellent concentration to haul in the pass despite the traffic.
Elijah Arroyo's first NFL TD ‼️
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As for Horton, while he’s been quiet in some games, the times he’s given the chance to speak up, he seems to do so as loudly as possible. As mentioned, he’s now up to five receiving touchdowns to go along with his punt return score.
His first score was a display in body positioning as he fought for the advantage to get in front of veteran corner Marshon Lattimore in the endzone to bring in a contested catch score.
The second was just as impressive for a different set of reasons. Facing press coverage, he slipped by the defender, allowing him to turn on the jets to streak behind the defense, giving Darnold an easy, over-the-top corner route to the end zone.
TORY HORTON AGAIN.
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Both rookies have been slowly rolled out in the offense, but now that we’re at the halfway point of the season, and Seattle is starting to garner more attention nationally, especially with the emergence of Smith-Njigba, they’ll need to be utilized more often.
Horton seems more ready of the two to become a more consistent contributor. He got extra opportunities Sunday night with Cooper Kupp out of the lineup. Coming up with four first-half catches with half as many scores in the veteran’s absence is a great sign that Horton is ready to step up for the offense down the back stretch of the season.
Either way, a strong primetime performance from the Seahawks' most promising young stars not named Grey Zabel is a massive win for the offense, front office, and everyone who is starting to buy in on the Seahawks as contenders in the 2025 campaign.