End of era. Eras? Seahawks cut Tyler Lockett, source says will explore DK Metcalf trade
Tyler Lockett is gone.
DK Metcalf wants to follow him out of Seattle.
The Seahawks are honoring his wishes in seeking a possible way out.
The team released Lockett, Seattle’s longest-tenured player, Wednesday after 10 seasons playing for the only NFL team the 32-year-old wide receiver has known. The Seahawks did that to save $17 million against the league’s salary cap for 2025 in what would have been the final season of his Seattle contract that would have counted $30.85 million against the the team’s cap had he fulfilled the 2025 season on his deal.
“I really enjoyed being in Seattle!” Lockett posted on Twitter/X. “I met so many great people and captured so many great memories! The 12’s really make this place meaningful! Although my time with the Seahawks may have run its course I’m thankful for everything!!”
Soon after Seattle announced Lockett was now a free agent, a league source told The News Tribune Metcalf has asked the Seahawks to trade him. The source told the TNT the only NFL team the 27-year-old two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver has known will indeed explore trade options for the wide receiver.
So the market is now open on Metcalf. Phone calls are likely already coming in from multiple teams coveted the hulking, speedy, leaping wide receiver.
There are no deals yet in the works, but the source said “I’m sure teams will be calling.”
Metcalf has told people he wants to be on a team closer to winning a Super Bowl than the Seahawks, who have missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons and three out of the last four years. He and the Seahawks have been talking for two weeks about his situation.
Metcalf is entering the final year of his Seahawks contract. His cap charge of $31.85 million is the largest in the league for a wide receiver in 2025, and second-highest on the Seahawks behind only quarterback Geno Smith.
Smith’s agent met with Schneider Friday at the league’s scouting combine in Indianapolis about an extension beyond the QB’s final season of his contract in 2025.
Metcalf doesn’t contractually have a say in where he may got traded to. He does not have a no-trade clause in the three-year, $72 million he signed with Seattle before the 2023 season. The team traded up in the second round of the 2019 draft to select the 6-foot-4, 235-pound receiver from Mississippi.
If the Seahawks don’t get a trade package they like, they will keep Metcalf — and keep open the option of re-signing him to a long-term extension beyond 2025. General manager John Schneider has typically extended the contracts of Seattle’s foundational players in the summer entering the final seasons of their deal. That would July or August for Metcalf, who given he is still only 27 could command a three- or four-year contract worth $100 million or more.
Metcalf’s request and the Seahawks exploring a trade doesn’t necessarily mean one will happen. Schneider will surely command a steep price of high draft choices and/or starting players from any team seeking to pry Metcalf from the Seahawks.
Lockett’s release and trying to find a team to possibly trade Metcalf underlines the idea that the Seahawks are choosing to move forward with the 34-year-old Smith as their potentially big-money re-signing on offense this season.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 12:27 PM with the headline "End of era. Eras? Seahawks cut Tyler Lockett, source says will explore DK Metcalf trade."
