Don’t expect the Steelers to trade for Tyler Lockett

A reunion with Russell Wilson is unlikely

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a hole at the wide receiver position. However, a trade must make sense for both sides in a deal from the perspective of the teams involved. There are no friends or favors when it comes to trade negotiations, and a negative cap hit by the team trading a player usually happens when a player forces their way out, or as Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin once said we’ll tolerate you until we can replace you. As the latest name to Pittsburgh via trade, here are the reasons why Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett is not coming to the Steelers via trade ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Seahawks Salary Cap Situation

According to www.sportrac.com, the team has $20,201,962.00 in available cap space at this moment. As of right now, they are carrying seventy-seven players on their active roster. They will look to add another thirteen players to their roster before training camp. Most of them will probably come in the form of draft selections during the 2024 NFL Draft, as well as their undrafted free-agent class.

They will need an estimated $8,408,793.00 in order to sign their 2024 rookie class. They may want to carry some additional money to account for in-season expenses such as replacing a starter or depth player lost due to a season-ending injury. So let’s say that number is $4,000,000.00, both of those amounts you should subtract from their available salary cap number. That would set their estimated available salary cap at $7,793,169.00. According to www.overthecap.com the Seahawks if they traded Lockett to the Steelers before June 1, 2024, would incur a cap hit of roughly ($8,000,000).

That would leave them over the NFL salary cap by ($206,831.00). There would need to restructure several players before trading Lockett away, to accommodate the cap hit. The Steelers would have to make a pretty attractive trade compensation offer to the Seahawks to make them interested in agreeing to a trade. The Steelers would be taking on an estimated $10,089,821.00 in salary from his current deal with the Seahawks against their estimated available salary cap space of $11,139,353.00. The team would have to restructure the contract of outside linebacker Alex Highsmith to give themselves additional flexibility.

Lockett the player

Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Tyler Lockett from merely a size comparison has a very similar profile to former Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson. But, Lockett will turn 32 in September, which raises the question would whether the Steelers want to have such a significant investment in an older player who wasn’t drafted by them, at a position where the draft has pretty good depth. The Seahawks essentially drafted his replacement in the 2023 NFL Draft when they selected receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Lockett isn’t going to break many tackles, and he averaged under three yards after the catch in 2023. That was the lowest mark of his career, when you look at his 2022 stats in that area could he be starting to fall off a bit? He was also charged with dropping five passes last season as well. Both of these are areas in which the Steelers will be looking for improvement from their wide receivers not more of the same.

When comparing Lockett vs Johnson from last season Johnson averaged 14.1 yards per reception to Lockett’s 11.3 yards per reception. However, Lockett was able to snag 79 receptions to Johnson’s 51 receptions as the Seahawks had a capable starting quarterback in Geno Smith vs the Steelers who had Kenny Pickett. Lockett looks as if he would be an adequate replacement for Johnson but Lockett’s age is a bit of a concern.

What a trade would probably look like

The Steelers would probably offer a trade similar to the trade between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Chargers for wide receiver Keenan Allen. The Steelers would be sending their fourth-round selection in 2024 pick 119 to the Seahawks for Lockett. That as well as Lockett’s salary due him for the next two seasons make it somewhat cost-prohibitive for the Steelers.

The Steelers would probably be wise to see what they can get in the draft, and if they still fill the need to add a receiver, and if that is Lockett then it may be better to wait until after June 1, 2024. The Seahawks would save $5,000,000.00 against the salary cap by trading him then.