Seahawks legacy of QB captains interrupted as Tyler Lockett voted in; Sidney Jones’ status

Russell Wilson is gone. So is the quarterback being team captain.

For the first time since Wilson’s rookie season of 2012 and only the second time in the 13-year Pete Carroll era, Seahawks players have voted for someone other than the quarterback as captain of the offense. Wide receiver Tyler Lockett got the honor for the 2022 season, coach Pete Carroll announced to reporters Monday.

Lockett turns 30 this month. He is entering his eighth season since Seattle drafted him in 2015. He was the team’s nominee for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award last season.

“It’s a beautiful recognition for a guy that has always been a leader in this program and has always been at the front of it,” Carroll said. “He has the wisdom, and they really recognize it and listen to him.”

It’s also a recognition the team’s QB situation is as unsettled as its been in 10 years.

Wilson was Seattle’s offensive captain every season from 2013 through last season. The team traded him to Denver in March. The Seahawks host Wilson’s Broncos next Monday night in the season opener.

Geno Smith will start that game at quarterback, opposite Wilson. On Aug. 26 Carroll named Smith the winner over Drew Lock as Wilson’s successor to begin this Seahawks season.

Smith is entering his fourth season with the Seahawks. The first three he was Wilson’s backup.

Seattle’s captains for the 2022 season are Lockett, Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs and 35-year-old tackle Al Woods for defense and Pro Bowl special-teams ace Nick Bellore. Bellore has become a perennial choice for the kicking teams.

“Those are great choices there,” Carroll said.

“We returned Nick Bellore on special teams. Just an obvious pick. He’s just everything to everybody in his play-making, style, mentality and all of that.

“So it was a really nice job of guys figuring it out and picking those guys.”

The only time Wilson was not the players’ choice as captain was for his rookie season of 2012. That vote came a couple weeks after Wilson won the job from Matt Flynn. Center Max Unger was the offensive captain that season when the quarterbacks were changing from Tarvaris Jackson to the new guy Wilson.

Jackson had been a captain for the 2011 season. That year he gained massive respect in the locker room for playing quarterback while injured.

Seattle’s legacy of having its quarterback as captain goes back 22 years to when the captains were on a game-by-game basis instead of for an entire season. That was in 2000. Coach Mike Holmgren’s first two seasons as Seahawks coach, in 1999 and 2000, the team had only game-to-game captains.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was captain from the 2001 season. His final season as captain was his last one with the team, 2010. The only season in that span he wasn’t a captain was 2006.

Seattle had a decent one that 2006 season on offense: Hall-of-Fame left tackle Walter Jones.

Sidney Jones’, corners’ statuses

Sidney Jones returned to the field to work the most he has since he got a concussion the first week of August in a training-camp blocking drill.

That increases his, Carroll’s and the defense’s hope the 2021 starter at cornerback can begin this season starting there again.

“Sidney is practicing and ready to go,” Carroll said.

Then the coach who is usually coy with who among uncertain players will start each game hedged some on Jones’ availability for Monday night’s opener.

“We will go one day at a time and make sure that each day is a good day,” the coach said. “But he’s very hopeful, and we all are that he is ready to play.”

Asked directly if Jones will start against Denver, Carroll said, as usual: “You will have to wait and see.”

Artie Burns has been sidelined for weeks by an injured groin. Tre Brown, who started opposite Jones as a rookie in 2021 until knee surgery in November ended his season, will miss at least the first four games. He is beginning the season on the physically-unable-to-perform list.

Rookie Tariq Woolen has been the starting right cornerback for the last three weeks opposite the uncertainty on the left. It would take a sudden change for the 6-foot-4 Woolen to not be starting against the Broncos.

Woolen changed his jersey number, to 27. It had been 39. The team released the previous number 27, safety Marquise Blair, last week.

Ken Walker’s return?

Ken Walker returned to the field for some limited work.

The rookie running back and second-round draft choice who impressed coaches in training camp remains iffy to play against Denver. He had a procedure last month to deal with a hernia.

“He was working some (Monday). He was running, catching some balls and doing some stuff,” Carroll said.

“We will see what happens. This is an injury that is unpredictable in the recovery. He is doing pretty well, though. He has to be able to tolerate it.”

The coach said the extra day before the Monday game helps Walker’s chances of playing.