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Seattle Seahawks rookie wide receiver Tory Horton made a great first impression in his preseason debut against the Las Vegas Raiders. The fifth-round pick could climb up the depth chart between now and the beginning of the 2025 NFL season, as one insider is calling him one of the most underrated picks in this year’s draft. Amid the Seahawks’ new-look attack, Horton could rise to become one of the team’s new go-to receivers.
Horton caught three catches for 31 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown in Thursday’s 23-23 tie against the Raiders, which caught one analyst’s eye, describing the rookie as someone who “has an advanced feel for the position,” per NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
“One of the steals of the whole draft,” a high-ranking team source said one month ago, per Schultz.
Schultz added that Horton’s top-end speed, combined with his consistency, already stands out in one-on-one matchups during his preseason debut. Horton was the most targeted pass-catcher in Thursday’s preseason opener. He had seven passes thrown to him.
The addition of Horton was one of the biggest storylines from the Seahawks’ training camp, per NFL.com’s Dan Parr.
“Horton hype is reaching a fever pitch, and I’m not about to throw any cold water around,” Parr said. “I like first-round pick Grey Zabel and second-rounder Nick Emmanwori, too, but they’re not generating buzz like Horton, who is being referred to as “Jerry Rice Jr.” and the “steal of the draft” by his teammates. Horton might have gone much earlier in April if a knee injury hadn’t wiped out the second half of his senior season at Colorado State.
“He’s making the injury seem like a distant memory with his performance so far,” added Parr, “making multiple plays each day, per head coach Mike Macdonald. Seattle revamped its receiving corps, thinking Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling would be the offseason-addition attention-getters in camp, but Horton has crashed the party.”
Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald could be making drastic changes to his depth chart for the 2025 NFL season. MacDonald gushed over his rookie receiver Tory Horton’s impressive preseason debut in Thursday’s 23-23 tie game against the Raiders, per Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper.
“Yeah, it was great,” Macdonald said. “Then to see him catch the punt was awesome. I’m not sure how long that return was, but that helped us there. Then obviously the touchdown, and you just felt him out there in those situations, which was a continuation of what we’re seeing in practice.”
For MacDonald, it’s great to see Horton’s consistency translate to a game setting.
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