The Seattle Seahawks released Tyler Lockett on Wednesday, parting ways with the franchise’s second all-time leading receiver in a cost-cutting move ahead of the new league year.
“I really enjoyed being in Seattle! I met so many great people and captured so many great memories! The 12’s really make this place meaningful! Although, my time on the Seahawks may have run its course I’m thankful for everything!! God gets all the glory forever!!!!” Lockett wrote in a social media post.
Lockett, a 10-year veteran, caught 661 passes for 8,564 yards and 61 touchdowns in Seattle, trailing only Hall of Famer Steve Largent in all three categories on the team’s career list.
Yet Lockett’s production dipped in each of the past two seasons. He finished with just 894 yards receiving in 2023, a number that fell to just 600 in 2024, his lowest mark since 2017.
The release of Lockett wasn’t the only bit of news surrounding a notable Seahawks receiver on Wednesday. DK Metcalf has requested a trade and been given permission to seek a deal with another team, FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz reported Wednesday. Metcalf ranks sixth in franchise history in receiving yards (6,324) and fourth in receiving touchdowns (48).
While the move to release Lockett and a possible trade of Metcalf hurts the Seahawks’ wide receivers room in the interim, the emergence of Jaxon Smith-Njigba helped make them expendable. The 2023 first-round pick had 100 receptions for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns in 2024.
Lockett’s salary cap number also made him expendable. His salary cap hit was scheduled to balloon to more than $30 million in 2025. Cutting him frees up about $17 million in cap space. The 32-year-old Lockett sensed at the end of the 2024 season that it might be his last in Seattle, telling reporters in January that “maybe this isn’t the end, maybe it is the end, but I always will be a Seahawk through and through.”
Seattle has created around $30 million in cap space this week. The Seahawks released four veterans, including outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones, on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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