Seattle Seahawks got a UDFA steal in WR Jazz Ferguson

The Seattle Seahawks traded up for DK Metcalf in the 2019 NFL Draft but Jazz Ferguson is another height/weight/speed specimen to watch for.

Is there any question about the fact that the Seattle Seahawks want to get the ball vertically in the passing game this season?

They are going to be relying on young receivers to come in after the retirement of Doug Baldwin to  come in and join Tyler Lockett in their attempt to drive defenses crazy when they throw deep downfield.

The move the Seahawks made that has generated the most attention to this point is, understandably, the move to trade up and acquire DK Metcalf, a projected first-round prospect out of Ole Miss who fell to the bottom of the second round because of injuries.

Another player whose athletic skills and measurable are very similar to those of Metcalf — Northwestern State receiver Jazz Ferguson — fell out of the draft completely to Seattle.

Ferguson is listed at 6-foot-5, and like this tweet indicates, he came into Seahawks camp at almost 240 pounds. That’s a staggering figure for a receiver and he checked into the Combine at 227, which is probably closer to where he needs to be.

Regardless, he’s a big bodied receiver and he ran a blazing 4.45 at the combine with a 37-inch vertical jump.

He racked up over 1,100 yards receiving this past year at Northwestern State after transferring from LSU where he spent the first two seasons of his college career. He came out after this season in which he finished with 13 touchdowns and almost 17 yards per reception.

Ferguson and Metcalf had two of the biggest wingspans in this year’s draft at the wide receiver position, and he used his catch radius to make big plays in the red zone and separate at the catch point.

Also like Metcalf, Ferguson struggles with short area quickness, but the Seahawks aren’t going to ask him to run super complicated routes right away.

If Ferguson can prove he can be effective against NFL talent on a simplified route tree, he stands a very good chance of making this young Seahawks roster, especially at a position of need like receiver.

Ferguson was a four-star prospect coming out of high school and LSU obviously had very high hopes for him. He transferred to Northwestern State and made enough of a name for himself there to get noticed by NFL teams, and now the next step is using that elite size/speed combination in training camp and preseason action to force the Seahawks to keep him around.