Easop Winston Jr. still has a good chance of becoming the sixth WR of the Seattle Seahawks

“I and [Jake] Bobo talked about it today – we have a lot of receivers,” backup quarterback Sam Howell said after Seattle's 16-15 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday. “It's only my third year in the league, but I've never seen so many receivers. Especially with the twos and threes that we have. That's really impressive and a good problem to have. Unfortunately, not every single player makes the team. That's the hard part about this business, but we have some really, really good football players in that room.”

Young is arguably the favorite to make the roster as a 6-foot-2, 220-pound pass catcher with 14-foot speed, but Winston and White are close. White has three catches for 63 yards in two games this preseason, while Young has four catches for 49 yards.

The advanced stats show that through two games, Winston was Seattle's best receiver by far and played at least 15 passing snaps. He was the Seahawks' highest-graded offensive player overall (91.8 points) according to Pro Football Focus and, despite having the highest passing performance, only ran 18 routes. Young ran 44 routes and White ran 29.

As a result, Winston has posted an excellent 4.33 yards per route run in Seattle's two games, according to PFF. White is second on the team with 2.17 yards, while Young is fifth on the team with 1.11 yards. Howell and third-team quarterback PJ Walker have posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeting Winston.

“Sop can play. I love Sop. I love playing with him,” Howell added. “He's got great hands, great ball skills, some of the best ball skills I've ever seen. In practice, he makes some incredible catches. He's great against press coverage. He's got a great release package.”

This is the preseason, so every stat should be taken with a grain of salt. But Winston, who rushed for 1,419 yards and 16 touchdowns in two seasons at Washington State, was a standout for Seattle. He also showed veteran tendencies on his touchdown reception Saturday, when he showed his hands late to secure a perfect throw from Howell after beating Titans cornerback Tre Avery one-on-one on a go route down the right side of the field.

“I think that's just something I've always done since I was a kid. I wasn't taught that at all,” Winston said after the game. “And I'll be honest, if it had been, it wasn't. And it was just something I pride myself on in my game – never letting the DB know when the ball was coming. So that was kind of a routine thing for me.”

Howell had a lot of confidence in Winston to catch the throw. All he had to do was see Winston against press coverage with a single-high safety.

“When we were in the red zone today, they came and pressured him and I just had to hold the safety a little bit and knew Easop would do the rest,” Howell said. “He's a good player and I enjoy playing with him. I definitely love it when he's around.”

Winston, 27, moved to three different practice squads in his first three NFL seasons. He finally landed with Seattle in October 2022, but has since been waived and re-acquired twice. Winston has played in four regular-season games (three with New Orleans in 2021) but has yet to catch a pass.

He's two years older than Young and White, which could hurt his chances if the Seahawks want a longer development timeline for their sixth pass catcher. Now five years into his professional career, Winston is happy he's still getting opportunities in a league that squanders opportunities quickly.

“I try not to look too far ahead. I take each day as it is,” Winston said. “I just try to get better every day. I'm thankful to God that I'm in this position; however it turns out, I'll be thankful. I'm just thankful to be here. I know what it feels like to be on the outside looking in. So, like I said, I'm just thankful to be here another year, and I'm blessed – very, very blessed.”

Winston was Seattle's second-best receiver in the 2023 preseason with six catches for 103 yards and a touchdown, only Jake Bobo (seven catches, 125 yards, two touchdowns) was better. He still landed on the practice squad. Only time will tell if his preseason performances are enough to secure him a spot on the 53-man roster in 2024.

Regardless of the outcome on Cutdown Day, one thing is certain: Just like last preseason, Winston got another ball for his mother after catching his touchdown.

“I love getting questions about my mom because she just sacrificed so much for me,” Winston said. “There were a lot of times I wanted to give up the sport. She had to talk me out of a lot of dark situations. I owe everything to her that I'm here and I know she was watching. I can't wait to talk to her.”