Tyler Lockett questionable. Pete Carroll suggests Seahawks will have their captain Sunday
Tyler Lockett is questionable.
But this is Tyler Lockett.
“His chances are really good of playing,” coach Pete Carroll said Friday, after the Seahawks put their captain and leading receiver on the injury report as questionable for their game Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers.
Lockett did not practice again Friday, as he didn’t Thursday and Wednesday. He stood in the back with a hood over his head as his teammates warmed up for the workout in the Seahawks’ indoor practice facility.
That’s four practices in two weeks the 30-year-old veteran wide receiver has missed, yet he played and had two catches last weekend in Seattle’s home win over Arizona.
Lockett has missed only two games in his eight-year career since the Seahawks drafted him in 2015. That was after he broke his leg in the next-to-last game of the 2016 season, and after he tested positive last December for COVID-19.
“This week we put him on ice, to make sure that he can get stronger through these last two weeks,” Carroll said. “He was a little bit hampered last weekend, and he made it through. So we’re just trying to be careful with him.
“If there is anybody in the program that we can do this with, he can do it.
“So we’ll see. I’m not going to know ‘til game day.”
Expect that as a yes.
The Seahawks, as usual, need Lockett with DK Metcalf. Veteran Marquise Goodwin has yet to contribute regularly in his Seattle debut season. Goodwin has just six catches in five games.
Reserve wide receiver and special-teams player Penny Hart is doubtful to play against L.A. He has a hamstring injury.
Even if Lockett plays as expected, Seattle offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is likely to use more of the three tight-end formations he’s featured often in games this season, with Noah Fant, Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson. Fant had a season-high six catches last weekend against the Cardinals. Dissly leads the Seahawks with three touchdown receptions.
Lockett has 34 catches for 423 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his scores came on long passes from Geno Smith two games ago in Seattle’s 39-32 loss at New Orleans.
The two games Lockett has missed since the Seahawks drafted him into the league in 2015:
- Jan. 1, 2017, the finale of the ‘16 regular season against San Francisco. That was one week after he broke his leg on a pass from Russell Wilson on Christmas Eve, 2016, during a home game against Arizona.
- Dec. 21, 2021: Lockett tested positive for COVID days before the game, during an outbreak of coronavirus variant cases across the league. The NFL postponed that game against the Los Angeles Rams from a Sunday to the Tuesday afternoon before Christmas.
Lockett called having COVID 10 months ago “very exhausting.” He lost eight pounds.
“I could barely move,” he said last December. “I was very, very anxious.”
Veteran guard Gabe Jackson hasn’t practiced all week because of an ongoing knee injury. He is doubtful to play at Los Angeles. Phil Haynes is ready for his fifth career start and second consecutive one for Jackson at right guard Sunday.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 2:40 PM.
