Brock & Salk: Tyler Lockett’s ‘pleasant’ emergence as Seahawks leader

It’s a new chapter of Seahawks football.

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Franchise icons Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, who not only are two of the best players in team history but also were perennial team captains, are no longer on the Seahawks as Seattle heads in a new direction in 2022.

With Wilson and Wagner gone, it’s time for other players to step up. So who is doing that?

“Who has been really shining as a great example for where the Seahawks need to be going?” Mike Salk asked former NFL quarterback Brock Huard during the latest Brock and Salk Podcast for Seattle Sports 710 AM.

For Huard, he pointed to the now-longest-tenured Seahawks player.

“I think one of the most pleasant surprises of this offseason for me has been Tyler Lockett,” Huard said.

Lockett, 29, is entering his eighth NFL season – all with Seattle – and has been front and center as the Seahawks enter life without Wilson and Wagner.

“Tyler was a guy that always loved to work … But I don’t know how much he loved being front and center and being the face, and you have seen him do an awful lot of that,” Huard said.

Huard pointed to Lockett flying out to work out with new Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock, as well as being present at numerous events and press conferences in recent weeks.

Salk compared Lockett’s apparent rise as a go-to Seahawks leader to Wagner’s a few years back.

“It’s sort of reminiscent of the Bobby Wagner ascension after some of those other guys left, right?” Salk said. “All of a sudden Bobby was the one at all the press conferences.”

Salk talked to Wagner, now a member of the Los Angeles Rams, a few months ago and when asked about becoming a leader, Wagner pointed to learning how to lead and talking and listening to leaders he respected.

“I wonder how much of that Tyler Lockett will now go through as well as we’re seeing him sort of featured more front and center,” Salk said.

In addition to taking on that leadership role, Huard thinks Lockett has a chance to show where he ranks in Seahawks history as far as all-time great receivers go.

” I was looking at his numbers the other day, Mike, and with a healthy season, he has a chance to be No. 2 behind Steve Largent in a bunch of these statistical categories,” Huard said. “It’s Largent, it’s Brian Blades, it’s Doug Baldwin and it’s Tyler Lockett, as far as yards, touchdowns, receptions.

“He’s never going to clip Steve Largent here – I don’t think he has the longevity to do it – but he has a real chance to cement himself is the second-greatest receiver in this franchise history, and I think he feels that,” Huard added. “I think the absence of Russell and that void he is stepping into and man I am loving what I’m seeing from him this offseason.”

Listen to the latest Brock and Salk Podcast at this link or in the player below.

Seahawks Q&A: Who are breakout star candidates on offense and defense?

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