The Seattle Seahawks still need wide receiver help, but could the team possibly have its proverbial cake and eat it too? Why not? While Jaxon Smith-Njigba is now entrenched as WR1, the team has only added Marquez Valdes-Scantling this offseason after losing DK Metcalf and Lockett.
Valdes-Scantling is a speedster, but an inconsistent one. He has never come close to 1,000 yards receiving, even though he has a tremendous 17.4 yards per catch over the course of his career. Once the receiver has the ball in his hands, exciting things can happen, but he also has a habit of whiffing on catchable balls. (He has caught only 49.5 percent of his targets in his career.)
Lockett no longer has the speed that he once did. He is still quick and has a high football IQ, so he knows how to get open, but he is unlikely to get as much separation as he used to. He can still help the team, though, and would be a quite good option at WR3. The issue is that Valdez-Scantling should not be counted on to be WR2.
Seattle Seahawks bringing back Tyler Lockett is still a real option
Lockett's market value, according to Spotrac, is $7.7 million. Seattle can certainly afford that after creating so much cap space by the Metcalf and Smith moves, and initially releasing Lockett saved the team $17 million. While he is not going to score on many explosive plays, he would be a safe outlet for new quarterback Sam Darnold and be able to keep drives alive.
Perhaps the best thing about bringing Lockett back would be that his re-signing does not mean Seattle cannot complete other deals, such as signing wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Kupp might get a contract that pays him around $10 million a season, but Seattle would still have money left over after signing Kupp and giving Lockett a deal of around $7 million on a one-year deal.
Adding both receivers to a JSN and MVS mix gives the Seahawks a lot of options to work with. The team still would need to address the offensive line, but that might happen more in the 2025 NFL draft than in free agency. We know that general manager John Schneider is not going to suddenly pay a lot of money to sign a guard or center, so bringing back Lockett makes sense.
The question might simply be if Lockett wants to continue to play. Or maybe he wants to go to the Las Vegas Raiders and team up again with former Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll. Anything is possible, including the Seahawks signing Lockett and Kupp.
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