Seahawks' Tyler Lockett keeps inspiring clueless predictions from NFL analysts

Some offseason predictions from NFL analysts can be lazy and seem to be based on following the lead of others. If one cannot come up with a good idea of one's own, one can steal an idea that seems intriguing. Everyone is guilty of that; even we here at 12th Man Rising are not innocent sometimes. But the predictions about Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett are just getting tiresome.

At the beginning of the offseason, Seattle potentially moving on from Lockett made some sense. Lockett had a huge cap hit and Seattle was in dire need of cap space. No one wanted Lockett to leave, even Lockett himself, but sometimes financial decisions are forced to be made. The NFL has a hard salary cap and teams have to get under the cap or be penalized.

Lockett, though, reworked his deal, took $4 million less in maximum money over the next two seasons, and less money in 2024. His cap hit was greatly reduced for this season. The receiver also has ties to the team off the field, as his real estate group is the franchise's official realtor.

Seattle Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett is not going anywhere this offseason

In other words, Tyler Lockett is going to play for the Seattle Seahawks in 2024. This does not stop many national sites from predicting or pontificating that Lockett will be cut after June 1. Sites throwing this idea out clearly know nothing about Lockett reworking his deal or his situation with the organization. Plus, Seattle does not need to release Lockett. The team is not hurting for cap space that much.

This week, Pro Football Network's Tony Catalina put together a list of potential post-June 1 cut candidates, and, yep, Lockett is on the list. Catalina writes, "At least financially, there may be a reason for the Seahawks to consider the option...Lockett is a strong locker room figure and someone his teammates look up to, so it wouldn’t be a universally accepted move. However, it may be a move worth exploring if the Seahawks are looking for salary cap relief with an eye for the future."

Oddly, embedded in the part of the article about Lockett is an X/Twitter post about four teams with a great wide receiver trio, and the Seahawks are part of the post due to having Lockett, DK Metcalf, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The X post appears to undercut Catalina's own argument.

Lockett is still a very good player, and NFL teams, unless they are horrible and need a complete rebuild, are not going to sacrifice a season where they might be good by releasing key players so that the team gets worse. That makes zero sense.

Seattle also is not going to get with Lockett about reworking his deal and, in the same offseason, release him after he has agreed to the rework. That is not how the Seahawks do business. Any discussion about Seattle potentially releasing Tyler Lockett will hopefully end once June 2 is here.

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