Seattle Seahawks Media Conference

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Seattle, Washington, USA

Tyler Lockett

Weekday Press Conference


Q. Year nine for you.

TYLER LOCKETT: Make me feel old.

Q. What is this time of year like for you? Are you working on something specifically?

TYLER LOCKETT: Yes, I think the biggest thing is even though you've been here a while and you're a vet, you're also fighting old age. You're fighting things that your body used to do normally and now you've got to kind of get it going.

You've got to stretch more. You've got to kind of do a pre-workout before the real workout.

It's kind of different than the rookies and second-year guys coming in. You've got guys fighting to get spots and fighting to learn the plays. And you've got the older guys fighting just to keep their body intact to be able to still do what you do.

So it's always going to be a battle but it's always about finding different ways to overcome it.

Q. You've had some time out there with Jaxon. What are your thoughts on the rookie?

TYLER LOCKETT: I think he's going to be phenomenal, man. It's always hard just being able to get adjusted when you first come in. But the way he runs routes, the way he's understanding the way that Sanjay coaches, the sky's going to be the limit.

I think he's going to be really good at all the things that the Seahawks -- that we want him to be able to do. I'm excited to be able to go out there and work with him. Even though you're a vet, you can still learn from the young guys too.

So it's always being able to teach each other stuff and iron sharpening iron and just helping each other be better to win.

Q. How about Dee Eskridge? What have you seen from them?

TYLER LOCKETT: Even with Dee Man, he showed what he could do early on, even with the special teams. Even out here when Dee is running routes, he looks explosive. He's one of the most explosive receivers out there, whether it's the start or the finish.

He's coming back to the ball. He's getting himself open. Even the other day we saw him, he ran a heck of a comeback. And Sanjay always coaches us about being able to run comebacks in a specific way.

And he killed the DB, running that comeback. Geno was scrambling and all of a sudden he turned upfield, boom, easy touchdown. I mean Dee's very explosive. He can do whatever it is coach wants him to do.

Q. Carroll was praising Geno last week about his leadership and taking over, things like that. Have you noticed a big difference this year with Geno?

TYLER LOCKETT: Yeah, of course. Geno, he's been here for a long time. He's found his way. He got the opportunity last year and now he's evolved.

And he was always speaking up even last year, speaking before games, being able to talk to us on the sidelines, like, or in a game. Like, that big drive we had to beat the Rams to go to the playoffs, he reminded us on that last drive in OT it's just a football game.

And sometimes you need to hear that because you get tightened up. You think every play matters. And though it does matter, but we're always better when we're just relaxed and we kind of play like it's pickup.

When you start getting tense and start stressing out and doing too much, you start realizing, if I just relax and go play, we can be great together.

It's those little things that he does that helps us to be able to be mindful and to win games.

Q. Talked to Quandre, this time last year he was rehabbing, trying to get ready for a season. This year he's healthy. You guys are obviously close. What was it like to see him go through the struggle last year versus what you're seeing out of him this year?

TYLER LOCKETT: The biggest thing, as we become vets, like we say, you don't have to do everything at a fast pace, but you kind of get to learn how to tempo stuff. You learn how to be repetitive in the stuff you do. And it can get mundane.

But if you can learn how to be great at the fundamentals, going slow and working your way up to full speed, it becomes something that helps you along the way.

And I think him being hurt last year actually helped him more than hurt him. Of course, nobody wants to get hurt. But he was able to work on everything at a slower pace that allowed him to evolve. As he got closer and closer to being 100 percent, he was able to go out there be phenomenal, help us down the stretch.

He had the game-winning interception that gave us that chance to be able to go to the playoffs. And you know the fans see it. The other teams see it. It's the reason why he's Pro Bowl year after year.

Q. What if anything do you get out of these practices (indiscernible)?

TYLER LOCKETT: Did you say if anything? Are you saying if anything? Like I said, coming back here, one, you learn how to be get back in shape. Two, you're able to be more team-oriented. You're able to get used to the relationships. You're able to create new relationships, talk to the young guys.

And you're continuing to learn how to evolve. You don't have to just wait until camp in order to feel like you've got to be at your best. You can come here and still learn how to be at your best, still be able to pick up on things. You can still be able to learn how to create and how to be able to get more space.

There's always ways you could be better. But it's also the mindset of somebody coming in, how do you approach this time.

And I think that's the biggest thing that determines if you get anything out of it or if you just are here just going through the motions.

Q. Announced today the throwbacks will be worn -- have you decided to wear?

TYLER LOCKETT: Excited. I wish we did it game one.

Q. What do you think about them?

TYLER LOCKETT: I love them. We got to do a little photo shoot. I'm thinking about being a model at some point in my life after that photo shoot. I did a heck of a job.

Q. You obviously, last offseason, watched your real estate company, wondering what the second offseason was like for you with your off-field ventures, and how do you balance that plus the work that you do here during the offseason?

TYLER LOCKETT: I don't think real estate is any different when it comes to balancing like how I did school and football. It's really just having that time management. You know with the real estate, the second year was a lot more easier than the first year. And just continuing to learn how to grow.

Like I said, just in football, it's really no different. When you talk about players, whether they have agents negotiating their contracts or whether you have players that's doing their own due diligence, looking at athletes, looking to see what they've got, looking at their stats, looking to see kind of like the inflation that comes up, okay, 10 a year equals 12 a year, within two years. It's no different. It's just using houses.

So like for me, I get to learn, kind of like the hectic piece that my agent deals with when he's negotiating my deals or other people's deals.

So it was just kind of cool. But I like it more than negotiating players' deals because houses don't speak. You know what I mean? A house isn't going to get upset what it goes for, but you have to learn how to work with the people. For me being a captain last year, being blessed to be that, I learned that you've got to be able to meet people where they're at. You've got to learn how to talk people. You can't yell to people all the time. Some people can take that.

Some people, you have to learn how to speak to in a more loving way. You start to realize as an agent, I'm here for the people who are selling their houses best interests. So it's really what they say goes. I'm just the one that's the middleman. I'm the one that's speaking on their behalf.

And so it's kind of cool because you learn how to do that and then it helps me come out here, be able to be there for my teammates as well.

Q. Witherspoon, what you do see out of him?

TYLER LOCKETT: I love him. I love the way that he plays. Obviously I haven't been able to go out there and actually go with the team, but just being able to see how he plays when we're out there doing a little faster walk-through, when I'm watching him out there as he's kind of like doing his little movements, you could tell he knows the game.

You can tell he knows when to sit, when not to sit, when to jump, when to play it safe. And the more and more he understands the plays and he understands the freedom that he has to be able to know when to do certain things and when not to, I think he's going to be a really, really great player.

Q. What about Tre Brown?

TYLER LOCKETT: Tre Brown from the hometown. It's always good. He's in that similar position how Quandre was when he came back from an injury. And it's one of those things where it's tough because you've got to be able to get back on your feet. It's hard to do that especially when you don't start in camp, when you're not able to get going at the beginning of the season.

And so when he came back, man, he worked his butt off even with the athletic trainers; they did a great job. And now he's able to kind of get back on his feet. He's able to be explosive. He's able to trust his speed again. And like this time, he's starting to get back under his feet. He's starting to realize kind of like the stuff -- because it's almost like he missed a whole year. So he's just kind of getting back into the groove. So it's good to be able to see him.

Q. When you look back at your season, your offense (indiscernible)?

TYLER LOCKETT: I think the biggest thing that we could be way better at that will help us out is just the screen game. I think we were last in the screen game. I also see you tweet a lot about us and the screen game, how we're in last place.

So I think if we can be able to get that down to at least 20, it does wonders. Like, the biggest thing is for us just knowing how to be able to be better at it. How to know how to catch it, how to be able to get upfield, trusting that the line is going to be there. Everybody being able to do their part.

And I think if we can get better at that, then it makes the offensive game better, it makes the run game better, the explosive games better, the short game better. But if we don't have the screen game, then we've kind of become limited.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
133676-1-1045 2023-06-06 23:37:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129