Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Dareke Young is entering his fourth season in the league, and so far he’s making the most of his increased role.
While Young has sparingly played on offense throughout his Seahawks career (and still isn’t playing a whole lot now), he’s carved out a fairly important role as one of Seattle’s primary kick returners. This may seem minor, but with kick return rates way up thanks to new rule changes, there’s a renewed emphasis on fielding competent returners, and Young has gone
from exclusively a gunner to someone who’s proven he’s dangerous with the ball in his hands.
Having never returned any kicks or punts in the NFL, Young’s eight returns have totaled 275 yards, good for a 34.4 yard average, which leads the entire league among qualified players. Half of his runbacks have gained at least 30 yards, and his three longest returns (60, 50-, and 43 yards) all led to eventual touchdowns on offense. Not coincidentally, Seattle’s average starting field position ranking is much improved from last season, when they were near the bottom.
Young did have some kick return experience at Lenoir-Rhyne, but this is his first year getting a crack at that role in the pros. After the ill-fated Dee Williams and Laviska Shenault Jr experience, there was uncertainty over who would be handling kick return duties for Seattle in 2025. Kenny McIntosh’s training camp ACL tear took him out of the running, partially leading the way for Young and George Holani to assume those spots.
To a lesser extent, Young has gotten involved as a receiver, catching this 36-yard pass against the Buccaneers on what was more or less a free play following a Buccaneers penalty. With two catches and 48 yards on the season, he’s doubled his career receptions total and tripled his receiving yards, building on his impressive preseason.
Will Young get more targets in this offense? Probably not, but that is less to do with him and more to do with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Tory Horton, and A.J. Barner taking the bulk of the targets. Seattle runs 12 personnel at the 10th highest rate in the league, so there’s not much of a path to be paved for more looks in the passing game. Jake Bobo has still outsnapped him this year, so Young is the WR5. Even if you accounted for his frame and willingness to be a blocker, Seattle already has two fullbacks on the roster. Nevertheless, he is still finding ways to contribute through his enhanced special teams role, and that holds way more value than you think now that the kick return has been rescued from extinction.
