Count DK Metcalf among the many stunned by the Russell Wilson trade to Denver.
The Seattle Seahawks receiver joined Kevin Garnett’s "KG Certified" show and revealed the trade caught him off guard.
"I was very shocked. I never thought he was going to leave Seattle," Metcalf said.
His quarterback wasn't the only leader Metcalf lost in one day, as the Seahawks later parted ways with longtime leader, linebacker Bobby Wagner. To listen to Metcalf, he sounded more broken up by Wagner's departure than Wilsons.
"My mind was like, alright, Russ gone. What do I do?" Metcalf said. "Later that night, Bobby gets cut. And me and Bobby were (close). That was my guy. And when he left that really hurt. We would work out every Tuesday. I would go over to his crib. We would play pool. That was my big brother. And he's gone now. He taught me a lot, and I know I'm going to take that to the next season and the rest of my years in the NFL. But he was like a real big brother to me ... just for him to get cut like that. He didn't do anything wrong. A perfect professional that you'd want to have for any organization."
With the leadership drain happening quickly in Seattle, Metcalf knows it's his time to be the chief.
"I'm going into Year 4, and I think it's time for me to step up and be a leader," he said. "It's my time in Seattle now. That's the way I look at it."
Metcalf noted that he prefers to lead by example more than vocally. With Wilson and Wagner leading the way, he could mill around in the background. Now that isn't the option. The 24-year-old knows he must become more.
"With Russ and Bobby there, it gave me more time to joke around ... in my eyes, I was able to take a back seat because we already had our designated leaders there," he said. "But now, since I've been trying to run from it for so long, God was like, 'Naw, I'm going to throw you in that fire early, see how you take it.'"
