The Pittsburgh Steelers are rumored to be in the market for a receiver trade to give another weapon to their new QB, Russell Wilson – who is of course the Seattle Seahawks’ old QB.
And one Pittsburgh push has the Steelers reaching out to acquire not Brandon Aiyuk of the 49ers, which is the hot rumor, but rather Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett.
“Lockett just restructured his deal with the Seahawks this offseason, which would make a pre-June 1 trade costly to Seattle,” Steelers Now explains. “If they traded Lockett now, that would incur a $27.8 million dead cap hit and cost the Seahawks an additional $8.9 million in cap space on top of what is slated to cost. But if they waited until after June 1, a Lockett trade would only have a $13.9 million dead cap hit this season, while saving Seattle’s cap in 2024 $5 million in room. To the Steelers, Lockett would be a bargain, with just $4.67 million in guaranteed salary and $340,000 in roster bonuses.”
That’s all fine. Lockett would certainly be a fine addition for Pittsburgh and would provide Wilson – dumped by Denver this offseason following Seattle having traded him to the Broncos two years ago – with a good and familiar weapon.
Right now, George Pickens is about all Pittsburgh has in that department.
But the Steelers site’s suggestion doesn’t do a very good job of explaining the other side of the deal: Why is Seattle interested in solving Pittsburgh’s problems?
Lockett was Wilson’s teammate for seven seasons in Seattle; we get that. But he is also coming off of a 2023 season in which he caught 79 passes for 894 yards and five touchdowns as a key cog in Seattle’s Geno Smith-led offense.
We’ve heard the trade gossip. We’ve also heard Lockett suggest he’d prefer to remain in Seattle. OK, “suggest” is too soft a word. Said Lockett recently: “Please, don’t put no more trade requests out there for me. Because I see y’all’s articles about me getting traded. Like — no.”
Bottom line: If the Seahawks consider themselves contenders – and they should – they should be trying to accumulate talent, rather than trying to toss it away.
