Tyler Lockett still main return man for Seahawks. But others to get preseason auditions
The Seahawks would like to give Tyler Lockett some time off from his kickoff and punt-return duties now that he’s also their primarily wide receiver.
But Lockett?
He thinks he’s still Seattle’s main return guy.
“That’s the plan,” he said.
He pointed out he’s always done a full workload of offense and returning, back to his days starring at both at Kansas State.
Lockett, David Moore, Rashaad Penny and Metcalf, in that order, were fielding kickoffs again this week at training-camp practices. Coach Pete Carroll was close by them watching and giving pointers, especially long ones to Metcalf.
The rookie wide receiver remains raw in his fielding and returning skills. The starring pass catcher at Ole Miss joked last week about Seattle’s coaches trying him at punt returner in practices: “Pray for me.”
With Lockett this season moving into the primary and slot-receiver roles opened by Doug Baldwin retiring, the Seahawks want to lessen Lockett’s role on kickoff and punt returns when they can. Wide receiver Keenan Reynolds, the former record-setting quarterback for Navy, is another who will get chances at returning this preseason.
Yes, Lockett remains the team’s number-one option as a returner; that’s how he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2015.
But don’t be surprised if Moore, who scored a touchdown on a return that got called back by penalty last preseason, and Penny, who returned kickoffs for scores in college at San Diego State while leading major-college football in rushing two years ago, return kicks in the four exhibition games including Thursday night’s first one against Denver at CenturyLink Field, and then more in the regular season.
Thing is, kickoff returns are on their way toward extinction in the NFL. The league this year made permanent its rule changes last year prohibiting wedge and double-team blocking and mandating the bulk of the kickoff-return team being with 15 yards of the kickoff line, some 50 yards away from where the return man lines up. As if that’s not enough to limit returners, many if not most kickoffs go soaring into and often out of the back of the end zone for touchbacks.
Last season, only five of the 32 NFL teams had touchback rates below 50 percent: Green Bay, Detroit, Buffalo, Oakland, and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Seattle’s kicker last season, the now-retired Sebastian Janikowski, sent 51 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. Jason Myers, the Seahawks’ new kicker for 2019, was fourth-best in the league on touchbacks in 2018, at 72 percent for the New York Jets. Myers had 60 touchbacks in 82 kickoffs last season, when he made the Pro Bowl.
For punt returns when Seattle absolutely HAS to secure possession and the return yardage may be secondary—say, late in games to protect a lead or down one score trying to rally—the Seahawks still want Lockett. They want their best back deep to catch that punt.
“Well, I’m going to keep him back there until Coach tells me not to,” special-teams coach Brian Schneider said.
“The number-one thing is with punt return, he is so secure with the football. There’s a lot of decisions to be made, there’s a lot of opportunities for turnovers, and he’s been excellent. You always start there and then just see how it plays out.
“We do have some guys who can do it, but we just have a lot of trust in Lockett.”
What is Lockett’s secret to being so sure-handed in securing possession with 10 opponents sprinting at him, often unblocked and trying to take his head off on a punt?
He said the key not always trying to hit every punter’s pitch for a home run, to simply fair catch punts or run out of bounds when the perfect set up for a big return just isn’t there.
“I think it’s just all about knowing what battles to fight and knowing what battles not to fight,” he said. “The biggest thing that I learned was durability is everything. If you’re not out there, that’s the fastest way to be gone, that’s the fastest way to be watching the games on TV.
“When you’re out there, you know when you need to call a fair catch and when not to call a fair catch. You know when you’re getting a little too antsy, when you’re doing a little bit too much. You know when to calm down, and you know when you’re playing a little less aggressive and you need to start playing a little more aggressive. When I’m out there, I know which battles to fight. I know which hits I need to take, when to be able to just say ‘Let’s go on offense,’ when to be able to run out of bounds.
“These are all things that you need to know, otherwise it’s going to be easy for you to get hurt at some point.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 7:40 AM with the headline "Tyler Lockett still main return man for Seahawks. But others to get preseason auditions."
