Tyler Lockett can only play his reduced Seahawks role--and ‘just hope the ball finds me’

Tyler Lockett sat at his locker. Most players were gone. Equipment guys worked picking up gear strewn across the mostly empty locker room.

The media had already massed around Jaxon Smith-Njigba following his latest big game. Reporters pressed for information about Geno Smith’s knee injury, about why the Seahawks didn’t get DK Metcalf the ball more.

The longest-tenured Seahawk? The man who has accomplished the most and won the most games in Seattle of anybody in the stadium, anyone in the franchise currently?

Lockett was mostly alone in his thoughts.

It was the opposite scene in the same room around him three months ago. His huge catch late in the opening game of this season sealed Seattle’s win over Denver three months ago. Rookie head coach Mike Macdonald gave his first “closer” game ball, for sealing a victory, to Lockett in the Lumen Field locker room following that game. Lockett had six catches for 77 yards. His last one was a grab with a Broncos defender all over him to convert on third down with 1:48 remaining to clinch Macondald’s first head-coaching win.

After Lockett’s game last Sunday against Green Bay, people weren’t exactly lining up and taking numbers to talk to number 16. There weren’t any “closer” game balls coming his way. Not for one catch on one target in a 17-point home loss.

“Yeah,” Lockett told The News Tribune last Sunday night following Seattle’s 30-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, “I mean, I can’t really do nothing about it, you know?

“All I can do is just run my route and get open and, you know, just hope that the ball finds me.”

It hasn’t found him much lately.

The 32-year-old wide receiver, the Seahawks’ most trusted target for most of a decade, has just four catches in three games. Two weeks ago at Arizona he had zero catches. That was the first time that happened since 2019.

He has just six receptions in the last four games, entering the Seahawks’ nearly must-win one Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings (12-2) at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 13). This has been his fewest catches over four games since 2016, his second NFL season. The Seahawks drafted him in the third round out of Kansas State in 2015.

He was a Pro Bowl kick and punt returner his debut season, behind Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse as Seattle’s wide receivers then.

It’s not like he’s playing less lately. Lockett played 76% of the offensive snaps against Green Bay, 67% against Arizona when he got blanked. He’s averaged 71% of the offense’s plays this season.

It’s that quarterback Geno Smith isn’t throwing him the ball. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb isn’t making him the primary receiver on as many plays. Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been all that and more this season for Seattle.

As defenses continue to double team Metcalf with cloud and bracket coverage of a cornerback short and safety deep, Smith-Njigba has flourished. The first-round pick in the 2023 draft is sixth in the NFL in receiving yards, 6 yards short of 1,000. His 85 receptions are 28 more than Metcalf’s for the team lead.

Meanwhile, Lockett has become the distant third receiver. He is averaging 4.6 pass targets per game. Smith-Njigba — 10 years younger, a couple inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than the 5-foot-10, 182-pound Lockett — is getting nearly twice as many targets, 8.1 per game. Metcalf, who turned 27 last week, is averaging 7.8 targets per game.

“You know, obviously, it’s a lot different than the previous years,” Lockett told the TNT. “But, you know, again, I can’t really control much about the situation, you know? You’ve just got to keep putting wins on film, and really just take it from there.

“I think the biggest thing is, everybody knows as you get older sometimes things change — and you’ve got to be able to make the best out of it.”

He made the best out of his one chance against the Packers. His long crossing route underneath coverage midway through the third quarter left him wide open. Smith’s pass hit Lockett in stride for a 22-yard catch and run. That got the Seahawks deep into Packers territory while down 20-3.

Smith got knocked out of the game on the next play with a knee injury; the quarterback will play against Minnesota Sunday.

That drive on which Lockett had his only catch led to a Seahawks field goal that cut Green Bay’s lead to 20-6. Backup Sam Howell didn’t throw Lockett’s way over the final 20 minutes. The Seahawks lost the game, and their inside track to the NFC West title.

“When I do get an opportunity, like when I ran across the field, I was able to make the catch, help the team at least put some points on the board,” Lockett said.

“But, you know, at the same time, man, I’m grateful. To be able to watch DK, I’ve been able to play with him for six years. I’ve been able to watch Jax as everything starts to unfold, and he’s starting to make a lot of plays and be able to help the team a lot.”

‘He’s one of us’

His rookie head coach is just five years older than Lockett.

Macdonald, 37, is hoping for a return to the usual Lockett Sunday. The Seahawks could use that against the rolling Vikings, winners of seven in a row.

“Shoot, our fan base and our city knows Tyler better than anybody. He’s one of us. We love him,” Macdonald said Friday.

“I feel the production on a day-in, day-out basis of what he brings in the passing game and as a leader on our team. I know the ball hasn’t found him as much, but I see it as just kind of a puzzle, especially the three main receivers working together. Each guy does what they do really well, and they complement each other really well. He makes the whole thing come alive on a day-to-day basis.

“So, he’s due for some clutch plays. Those are in there, I know that. So, hopefully they’ll show up this week.”

Grubb is using Lockett as a decoy at times. On other plays, Lockett is a clear-out receiver reading the defense and taking defenders with him. Smith-Njigba has found himself alone across the middle and on sides of the field after Lockett’s done that the last two months.

“So sometimes they put me in situations where you put a vet there, and they’re able to help get other people open because they understand the coverage, and they understand what they got to do to get other people open,” Lockett said.

“And I try to make the best out of that, as well.”

It’s far from a starring role.

But it’s what Lockett is now doing, at age 32.

Tyler Lockett’s future

His contract has only next season remaining on it. His scheduled salary-cap charge for 2025 is a team-impossible $30,895,000, with no guaranteed money due to him next year. That’s typical of heavily back-loaded contracts.

The Seahawks are more likely to ask he take far lower pay to play for them in 2025, or release him, rather than pay him as currently scheduled in the final year of his deal.

Lockett has talked glowingly the last couple years of his many off-the-field interests. He has a growing, successful real-estate business of expensive properties; he got his realtor license a couple years ago. He is active philanthropically in the Puget Sound region and his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his wife Lauren are 1 1/2 years into their marriage.

He’s got stuff to do besides play football until he’s 40. Or even 35.

Or 33?

With three games left in his 10th NFL regular season, all with the Seahawks, one of the team’s more popular players of a generation has a philosophical, team-first tone to his current role.

“Yeah, obviously, you know me as a player, I want to be able to help out as much as they’re helping out, too,” Lockett said of Metcalf and Smith-Njigba.

“But I can’t change whatever’s going on for whether I get the ball or not. I just gotta continue to go out there and be a team player and do what’s best to be able to help our team win.”