RENTON, Wash. -- Before Tyler Lockett answered questions from reporters following the Seattle Seahawks' season finale, the veteran wide receiver offered recognition to some of the team's unsung staffers.
First were the equipment guys, who "barely even sleep" after games because they work so late. Next were the athletic trainers, who have helped Lockett answer the bell for all but three games over his 10 seasons in the NFL. Later, he mentioned the team's nutritionist, its strength and conditioning coaches and even the third-floor employees at Seahawks headquarters, who aren't in football operations.
"I just appreciate everybody," said Lockett, the second-most-prolific wide receiver in franchise history. "I really do."
While it wasn't quite a farewell, it was an outpouring of gratitude from someone who knew he may have just played his last game as a Seahawk.
Lockett turns 33 in September. He's coming off his worst season statistically since 2017, catching 49 passes for 600 yards and two touchdowns. And while he firmly believes his dip in production isn't an indication that his game has fallen off, he's set to make a non-guaranteed $17 million next season while counting almost $31 million against the salary cap -- bloated figures for someone who projects to be Seattle's third receiver behind DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Which means that the only way Lockett will be back for an 11th season in Seattle is if the two sides work out a reduced contract like they did last year.
But even if he was amenable to another pay cut, how much will the Seahawks really be willing to pay their third receiver considering new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak infrequently utilizes three-receiver sets relative to the rest of the NFL?
"It's easy to say that we want you back, but you've still got to be able to have those conversations and figure out what's going to work and what's not going to work, what's the role going to be ..." said Lockett, whose wife is expecting their first child. "All I can really do is enjoy the fact that I'm about to have a girl and learn how to take care of her and two dogs. From there, I'll just let my agent kind of talk to them and kind of see what it is that they want to do."
Lockett has made it clear that he intends on playing in 2025. When asked on Feb. 11 whether he anticipates Lockett returning to Seattle, coach Mike Macdonald said they were still working through the matter.
Resolution will likely come well before Lockett's $5.3 million roster bonus is due on March 16, with either a release giving him a head start on free agency or a reworked contract giving the team financial clarity ahead of the negotiating window.
Lockett was grateful that general manager John Schneider found a way to bring him back last year, after he entered the offseason uncertain of his future on the heels of Pete Carroll's ouster as head coach and his slight downturn in production. His re-worked deal included a $4 million pay cut, with the Seahawks correctly anticipating that Smith-Njigba would overtake him in the pecking order at receiver.
Smith-Njigba did indeed break out in his second season, leading the team with 1,130 yards and six touchdowns. He tied Lockett's single-season franchise record with 100 catches, after the veteran told him late in the year that he wanted him to break it.
"Shoutout to Jax for wanting me to still be right there beside him," Lockett joked after the finale. "... I think that's dope, man. At least I'll be able to share it with somebody. Sometimes it's lonely up there at the top."
Over the first nine games, Lockett was on pace to replicate his 894-yard, five-touchdown season from 2023, catching 34 passes for 456 yards and two scores. But he went the rest of the way without finding the end zone, topping out at three catches and 28 yards as Smith-Njigba became the focal point of Seattle's passing game. Lockett's 74 targets were his fewest since 2018.
"I think the whole season has been sacrifice, and it's sacrifice for the betterment of the team, it's sacrifice for the betterment of the other players, it's sacrifice for a lot of different stuff," Lockett said late in the year. "... It sucks for me as a player when you hear people say, 'Oh, he's too old' or 'he's washed' or 'he's not the same type of player.' I promise you, if you go watch the film, that's not the case."
Lockett, who's missed only two games due to injury over his career and another with COVID-19, ranks second in franchise history only to Hall of Famer Steve Largent in catches (661), receiving yards (8,594) and receiving touchdowns (61). In December, he became a three-time winner of the team's annual Steve Largent Award, voted on by players in recognition of on- and off-the-field excellence.
"It means so much to me just to see an NFL player of his caliber have the humble demeanor that he has and the selflessness that he has and ... the consistency that he's shown and the leadership that he's given to DK and Jaxon and all those guys in that room, it doesn't go unnoticed," quarterback Geno Smith said.
"He's one of my best friends. He's a guy that I played against in college so I knew exactly what he could do all along, and just being around him, his family, his wife ... he's soon to be a dad. He's a special guy, a special person and a special player."
If the Seahawks and Lockett do part ways in the coming weeks, the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs would make sense as potential landing spots. Beyond having bona fide quarterbacks and rosters built to compete, each city could have personal appeal.
Lockett's father lives in Kansas City, both having starred at nearby Kansas State, where his younger brother currently plays wide receiver. Lockett spends much of the offseason in Texas, where he's practiced real estate as a licensed agent since 2022. The Cowboys' new head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, was Lockett's offensive coordinator for three of his best seasons in Seattle.
While Carroll could conceivably have interest in bringing Lockett to the Las Vegas Raiders, that's a rebuilding team with a question mark at quarterback and no realistic chance to play for a championship in 2025, something that figures to matter to Lockett as his career winds down.
Having been drafted by the Seahawks in 2015, months after they nearly repeated as Super Bowl champions, he's never advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs. They fell short of the postseason in 2024, but as Lockett spoke to reporters after the finale, gratitude seemed to override disappointment.
"Maybe this isn't the end, maybe it is the end," he said. "But I always will be a Seahawk through and through."