SEATTLE, WA – We’ve seen a slew of NFL players retiring early due to fearing an injury so severe that it will affect the rest of their lives.
For Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ricardo Lockett, that situation has seemingly happened all at once. The speedy un-drafted free agent from 2011 who was developing into a pivotal part of the Hawks’ passing attack went down in scary fashion last season vs the Dallas Cowboys.
When going across the middle covering a punt, Lockett lowered his head while running towards a Cowboys defender, falling to the ground after the collision, motionless.
Ricardo Lockette will announce his retirement Thursday, the team confirmed Wednesday. Laying on the star for more than a few minutes while medical attention surrounded, everybody in the building and watching on television knew it was serious, but not this serious. After suffering a concussion and disk and ligament injuries in his neck, the team confirmed Ricardo Lockette will announce his retirement Thursday.
Lockette played in 34 games for the Seahawks over five NFL seasons, finishing his career with 22 catches for 451 yards and four touchdowns. He was also a standout special-teams player (ESPN).
During this offseason, Lockette visited with firefighters and paramedics in Washington who explained to the WR just how close to death when he collided with that defender.
“[The doctors] said if I would have stood up then, the weight of my head — left, right, front, back — I would have died,” Lockette said in a video he posted on Facebook. “If one of my teammates would have come over and pulled my arm, just barely, I might have died. Or if the returner at the time would have broken a couple tackles, and they would have rolled and fell on me, I would have died on that field. But what saved my life was the trainers, the work that you guys do.”
Lockett expressed his feeling via an Instagram post Wednesday.
I just wanted to make my teammates, family, & The 12th Man proud!!!! #weallwegot A photo posted by Ricardo Lockette (@ricardolockette) on
