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Seattle Seahawks tight end Will Dissly has reacquainted himself with the end zone to start the 2022 season. His three touchdowns is tops among all Seahawks players and one short of matching his career-high set in 2019.
Lest we forget that in his two injury-shortened years, Russell Wilson to Will Dissly was a revelatory moment for this offense. Dissly caught 31 of 41 targets for 418 yards and 6 touchdowns in his first ten games, and you could tell that Wilson had a lot of trust and chemistry with Uncle Will.
TOUCHDOWN WILL DISSLY!!!! Leaks out on the play-action after initially blocking. Love the play call here. #Seahawks #SEAvsDENpic.twitter.com/Q9pCk1N5Qk
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) September 9, 2018
TOUCHDOWN WILL DISSLY!!! #Seahawks
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) September 15, 2019
Great placement by Russell Wilson. High enough for him to bring it in just over the linebacker. Great throw!pic.twitter.com/0yIx6gKbfb
TOUCHDOWN NO. 2 WILL DISSLY!!! #Seahawks
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) September 15, 2019
Another seam between zones. Quick throw and recognition by Russell Wilson.pic.twitter.com/r3CqVZ4xD2
We cannot lose sight of the fact that Dissly’s career could’ve effectively ended before it ever had a chance to get going. A double whammy of a ruptured patella tendon and a ruptured Achilles in consecutive years is about as damaging as it gets. The recovery time for Dissly more or less relegated him to backup status behind Greg Olsen, Jacob Hollister, and Gerald Everett over the ensuing two seasons. For all of his value blocking, his reduced involvement as a receiver made his three-year, $24 million contract extension a bit of a surprise.
Enter the Geno Smith era, and Dissly’s pass-catching ways have been reignited through the first month of the season.
Dissly has caught all 12 of his targets thrown his way for 116 yards and those aforementioned trio of touchdowns. This throw by Geno Smith in the Detroit game really highlights everything from anticipation and ball placement from the quarterback, to the route running and soft hands from the big man.
Geno Smith & Will Dissly open the scoring in Detroit! #Seahawks
— NFL (@NFL) October 2, 2022
: #SEAvsDET on FOX
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/CvE1Ql7jkg pic.twitter.com/YiLZbeB9BW
Geno Smith with the perfect ball placement
— NFL (@NFL) October 2, 2022
: #SEAvsDET on FOX
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/CvE1Ql7jkg pic.twitter.com/PBT8PJNiW1
Seahawks quarterbacks throwing to Dissly are a combined 88/108, good for a ridiculous catch rate of 81.5%. Dissly’s depth of target has noticeably dipped since his injuries but he’s otherwise starting 2022 more closely to his 2018 and 2019 seasons. It also helps that unlike seasons past, the share of targets going to players other than DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett have shifted to tight ends.
DK and Lockett have 69 of the 130 targets.
— Field Gulls (@FieldGulls) October 3, 2022
Seahawks TEs have 30 of the remaining 61 targets.
In lieu of having a proper WR3, Seattle's increased TE use is very much by design.
For context:
— Field Gulls (@FieldGulls) October 3, 2022
2021: 97 of 238 (40.7%) non-DK/Lockett targets went to TEs.
2020: 108 of 276 (39%)
2019: 102 of 274 (37.2%)
So far, the Seahawks are committed to using Dissly, Colby Parkinson, and Noah Fant. If this continues, then Dissly is on pace for a career year. He’s almost always been reliable when called upon, and he’s looking like one of the biggest beneficiaries of this adjustment in the passing attack.
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