From Mexico to Los Angeles — even through they are no longer teammates — DK Metcalf and Russell Wilson remain bonded.
Their summers are still the same.
Metcalf, the Seahawks’ wide receiver, and Wilson, now the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, have been training this week on the campus of UCLA. Metcalf has been running routes and catching throws from his former Seahawks Super Bowl-winning QB in pass-and-catch sessions at dawn.
John Shackleton, a performance coach and fitness trainer who regularly works with Wilson near one of the quarterback’s homes in the San Diego area, posted video online Wednesday of Wilson and Metcalf working out on a practice field at UCLA.
Wilson has been throwing to Metcalf in offseason workouts in southern California for years, since July of 2019. That was before Metcalf’s rookie season in the NFL as Wilson’s Seahawks teammate. They trained together each early summer before Seahawks training camps, through Seattle trading Wilson to Denver in the spring of 2022.
Since then Metcalf’s quarterback with the Seahawks has been Geno Smith, Wilson’s backup from 2019-21.
In the winter of 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down most travel inside and out of the U.S., Metcalf and Wilson trained together in Mexico. Wilson also taught Metcalf how to swim in the warm waters south of the border.
“We worked every single day,” Wilson said in 2020, “threw for a couple of hours. Lifted together. Ran together. Talked together.
“Kind of cool,” Wilson said, “I actually got to teach DK how to swim.
“Obviously, our friendship has evolved like crazy. He’s one of my best friends, for sure. Love his demeanor. Love who he is.
“You know, he’s like a little brother to me, in a way.”
That’s remained true even as Wilson’s been on teams a thousand and now a couple thousand miles away from Metcalf’s in Seattle.
Wilson, Metcalf playing apart
Wilson got a $254 million contract from the Broncos soon after Seattle traded him. He started in Denver for two, failed seasons.
The Broncos released Wilson this spring. The 35-year-old veteran signed a one-year contract to be Pittsburgh’s new starter for 2024.
Metcalf, 26, is due to report to Seahawks training camp at team headquarters in Renton July 23. He is entering the next-to-last year of the $72 million contract extension he signed with the Seahawks in training camp of 2022. He signed that months after he ended the 2021 season with his career high of 12 touchdown passes, from Wilson.
Metcalf has the highest base salary on the Seahawks this year, $13 million.
Mike Macdonald appreciates Metcalf
New Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is likely appreciating Metcalf’s workouts with Wilson in L.A. this week — and seeing it as a continuation of the coach sees as the hulking wide receiver’s fiendish work ethic.
“He wants to be really good. He wants to be the best,” Macdonald said of Metcalf at Seattle’s minicamp two weeks ago. “And he wants to be pushed and coached hard, which you respect about him.
“Really, the way he practices is really awesome. I mean, this guy practices extremely hard. Does all the little things you’re asking him to do. It’s a great example he is setting for that room and our offense as a whole.
“A lot of respect for DK, the type of player and person he is,” Macdonald said. “I just love seeing him out there, because he raises the whole level of our team when he’s practicing for us.”
And, in summers, with Wilson.
Macdonald’s new Seahawks offensive coordinator is Ryan Grubb, in from the University of Washington. Grubb is Metcalf’s third offensive coordinator in six years with the Seahawks.
Metcalf debuted in the NFL with Brian Schottenheimer calling Wilson’s plays in Seattle. The last three seasons it was Shane Waldron running the Seahawks’ offense.
“Every offense that I’ve played in from Schotty to Shane to now, they all have their unique variations,” Metcalf said this month, “but I like the way Grubb’s offense is very explosive and he tries to push the ball downfield.”
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