Doug Baldwin catches touchdowns from (almost) anybody who throws to him

Doug Baldwin is the most senior offensive player on the Seattle Seahawks roster, having been with the team since 2011. Originally undrafted out of Stanford, Baldwin went from roster spot hopeful to the team’s #1 receiver. He is Mr. Consistency, defensive backs stay away from casinos because he’s made them terrified of anything slot-related, and you will rarely see him drop a pass.

If all goes well in 2018, he’ll surpass Darrell Jackson and become second all-time in franchise history in receiving touchdowns, behind only the legendary Steve Largent, who’s at 100. Jackson is at 47, while Baldwin is at 44. He’ll also most likely surpass John L. Williams (471) for 3rd all-time in receptions, leaving him behind Largent (819) and Brian Blades (581).

A fun fact about Baldwin is that five Seahawks quarterbacks have thrown the football his way, and four of them have hooked up for touchdowns. The very first one was courtesy of Tarvaris Jackson in the 2011 season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

This wound up being the second-longest touchdown given up by the 49ers for the entire regular season. Unfortunately, Seattle’s special teams destroyed hopes of a comeback by allowing consecutive return touchdowns to Ted Ginn Jr.

Four weeks later, Jackson went down with injury against the New York Giants, which meant Charlie Whitehurst was tasked with leading the Seahawks to an unlikely road win against the eventual Super Bowl champions. Taking advantage of a free play, Whitehurst’s only career 4th quarter comeback/game-winning drive was pitch-and-catch with Baldwin.

To this day, it is one of the best statistical performances of Baldwin’s career. He caught 3 balls for 57 yards on that go-ahead drive, and finished the day with 8 catches for 136 yards and a touchdown. It’s also the final touchdown pass Whitehurst would ever throw in a Seahawks jersey.

Baldwin’s numbers dropped considerably in 2012, as rookie quarterback Russell Wilson preferred Sidney Rice and Golden Tate to be his top two options. It would take until October for the first Wilson-to-Baldwin touchdown connection to arrive, and it came against the mighty New England Patriots.

Fast forward to 2016, in what was effectively garbage time against the San Francisco 49ers, Trevone Boykin’s only career touchdown pass was courtesy of a successful pick play involving both Baldwin and Paul Richardson.

Let’s back track a bit, because the only Seahawks quarterback throughout Baldwin’s career who’s targeted him but never thrown a touchdown is the one and only Matt Flynn. All nine of his attempts came in the famous 58-0 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals, and he completed five for 68 yards. I legitimately forgot about most of the ending of this game, but revisiting the play-by-play and the video itself, we nearly had Flynn to Baldwin for six points. Dougie was a mere three yards short on this play.

Leon Washington punched it into the end zone shortly thereafter.

If Baldwin is to catch a touchdown from a fifth different QB, we’d much rather it come in a garbage time situation with the backup getting reps, and not like Charlie Whitehurst’s relief role for T-Jack. The Seahawks seldom had garbage time moments last year, hence Austin Davis didn’t throw a regular season pass, but ideally that changes in 2018.

“Alex McGough finds Doug Baldwin for his first NFL touchdown, as the Seahawks extend their lead to 41-0 over the Los Angeles Rams!” has a nice ring to it.