With preseason cuts nearing, the Seattle Seahawks will be left with some difficult decisions for the final few spots on the roster. Some of those decisions are made more difficult when players explode onto the scene like Tory Horton has at wide receiver.
Horton was a great college player whose final seasons were marred by injury, so his instant impact isn’t too surprising to most well-informed fans. But when a guy like Horton takes a roster spot so convincingly in a deep position group, it can force other players out of the picture.
But, if another player steps up in his own right, makes the improvements necessary and capitalizes on his opportunities, shouldn’t he be able to avoid the swinging axe at the bottom of the roster? That’s what Dareke Young has done this preseason, and now it’s up to the Seahawks decision makers to do right by him and keep him on the 53-man roster.
Dareke Young’s performance forces Seattle Seahawks to take notice
“That’s my goal going into each and every year, to be way better than I was last year,” Young said, via The Athletic. “I worked really hard this offseason, and I feel like I came in the most confident I’ve ever came in, and it’s showing.”
He’s right, it is showing. This preseason, Young has four receptions for 83 yards. He also returned a kick 29 yards against Kansas City. But even still, his roster spot isn’t guaranteed.
After all, despite shining in the two preseason games so far as a wide receiver, it’s Young’s special teams abilities, and not all as a returner, that gave him a strong foundation to make the roster when training camp first began.
Young is headed into his fourth season in the NFL, which is a true make-or-break season for most NFL players who make it that far. Most of Young’s contributions have come on special teams to this point, where he has played 541 of his 686 NFL snaps.
The Seahawks could hold onto six wide receivers, which would make it easier to hold onto Young. If they feel the squeeze to keep just five, that’s where it becomes less certain that Young has a spot. After all, the Seahawks' dominance on the ground isn’t a fluke. Klint Kubiak’s offense won’t be using a ton of receivers on most series.
Still, when the decision makers are trimming down the roster and choosing between those last few names, Young stands out in the crowd as a player who has put in the work and made as strong a case as anyone to stick on the roster against the odds. More often than not, those are the types of guys any team in the NFL wants to fill out the bottom of the roster.
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