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MIAMI, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- D.K. Metcalf's rise as one of the NFL's best playmakers has boosted Russell Wilson's MVP candidacy. The Seahawks stars attribute the rapid ascension to time they spent living together this off-season at Wilson's house. "I lived with him for like a month during the quarantine, so it was just a good experience just to be around a future Hall of Famer," Metcalf said Sunday.
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"I has been a great experience just learning from him about the game, life, and just everything else. I'm just trying to soak up all the knowledge I can."
Wilson, who has a full-size football field in his backyard in San Diego, often hosts his wide receivers for off-season workouts.
Metcalf and Wilson posted several videos in June while on that field, with the Seahawks quarterback launching deep passes and Metcalf using his large frame and leaping ability to corral the tosses with acrobatic grabs.
That repetition and a stronger rapport on and off the field have made the duo nearly unstoppable so far in 2020. Metcalf, 22, leads the NFL with 403 receiving yards and 25.2 yards per catch through Sunday's Week 4 games.
Wilson, who is the father of three and one of the highest-paid players in NFL history, joked that it was Metcalf who lived with him and not vice versa when he talked Sunday about the experience.
"We had a great time," Wilson said. "All the time we spent together has shown up in so many different ways. He was exceptional again [Sunday].
"He has been on his [game]. He is a special player and I'm glad he's on the team. All of our wide receivers have been making plays and he has helped lead the pack."
Metcalf had four catches for 106 yards in Sunday's win over the Dolphins, but failed to reach the end zone for the first time this season. His three scores this season have come against some of the league's best defenders, including a Week 2 score against reigning Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore.
"He's a guy that really has it all," Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones said of Metcalf. "He has big speed. He has a really big catching radius. He runs good routes for someone who is that big and he has a really good quarterback who puts it on the spot. It's a challenge."
Metcalf deflected postgame praise and used his news conference to proclaim that his MVP vote -- if he had one -- would go to Wilson.
"Russ has played spectacular," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "His work with D.K. really is a result of last season's experience, but then going into the summertime knowing -- both of them knowing -- what the potential was there for this relationship, and they went for it.
"They kept sending us videos of them throwing and stuff like that what they were doing, and it just made so much sense to see them come back and just be on point because they worked so hard at it."
Metcalf was one of the most physically imposing players in the NFL the second he stepped onto the field. The Ole Miss product -- whose full name is DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf -- stands at 6-foot-4, 229-pounds and can bully smaller defenders when he fights to make catches.
His 4.33-second 40-yard dash speed must be respected by defensive coordinators, as he also can sprint by defenders.
Metcalf impressed scouts at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, but slipped into the second round of that year's draft due to injury concerns. He was disappointed at the time, as he watched eight other wide receivers hear their names called before Carroll and the Seahawks' front office called him on draft day.
Now the wide receiver, whom Wilson compares physically to LeBron James, shares an undefeated (4-0) team with a future Hall of Fame quarterback, who also once was passed over in the NFL Draft.
They also share a bond, which appears to grow stronger with each electrifying connection.
