Tory Horton's rookie season was one of the more electric small samples in the NFL last year — 13 catches, 161 yards, 5 touchdowns, and a 95-yard punt return score that made him the only player in league history with multiple receiving touchdowns and a punt-return touchdown within the first 3 weeks of a season. Then Week 9 against the Commanders happened, and everything stopped.
Doctors found a crack in his tibia after that game, and the injury shut down his season for good. It required surgery — a metal rod inserted into his leg — and kept him out of spring practices entirely, the kind of setback that usually means a slow, cautious summer for a young receiver trying to prove he belongs.
Seahawks WR Tory Horton is healthy after cracking his tibia last season. Story via @BradyHenderson: https://t.co/AXfvXkFMaq
Instead, Horton avoided the PUP list altogether and opened camp on the field. He's been in for 7-on-7 drills and fielding punts, with the team still managing his reps — head coach Mike Macdonald had already signaled last month that Horton would be eased back in rather than thrown into the fire on Day 1.
That matters for Seattle beyond just one roster spot. Horton flashed as a rookie in limited action, showing juice as both a receiver and a returner, and a full offseason of buzz around him getting back to that form gives the Seahawks another weapon to plug into an offense that's still figuring out its identity heading into the season.
The next checkpoint is whether Horton can handle full-contact 11-on-11 work without setbacks. If the recovery holds through camp the way it's started, he's positioned to be one of the more intriguing under-the-radar names for both Seattle's offense and fantasy drafts this summer.