With Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin sidelined with an MCL injury, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has some decisions to make. Filling the shoes of your No. 1 receiver is no easy task, especially with the added pressure of a prime-time matchup to plan for.
Baldwin left Sunday’s game early with a knee issue and did not return to the field. He is expected to be out at least a couple of more weeks.
“Obviously, in this game, we had quite a few things for Doug Baldwin,” Schottenheimer told reporters Friday. “So, when that happened it was kind of like, okay, hey, what do we got, now we’re down to four receivers.
Schottenheimer plans to pull a card from his run game deck and once again utilize all available players Monday night: “It will be by committee.”
With the addition of Keenan Reynold to the squad earlier this week, Schottenheimer and the Seahawks now have five receivers at their disposal: Reynolds, Tyler Lockett, Brandon Marshall, Jaron Brown and David Moore.
Reynolds spent the preseason with Seattle before he was waived during the initial roster cuts. Now, he could likely hear his number called in prime time.
“Yeah, he’s been trained in that spot so obviously he’s a guy that can do that,” Schottenheimer explained. “He is very comfortable in some of those roles. We trust him.
“The cool thing about Keenan is he’s still learning the receiver position but he sees it from Russ’(Wilson) perspective so that’s why, with a lot of those routes that they’re running maybe in the slot, they have a good feel for one another.”
Reynolds spent his college years at Navy at the quarterback position, so it’s not far-fetched to believe he can make a successful transition. He’ll just have to do it sooner than later under the lights of the national stage for Monday Night Football.
