Tyler Lockett: "There's Definitely An Excitement" | Press Conference - April 10, 2024

Intro (crowd chattering) - It's been a long couple months. - [Interviewer] Well, then what's the level of excitement in the teammates that you've had a chance to be around this week? - Oh, I mean it's always cool because for some reason, once the season's over, everybody kind of goes around and does their own thing, and you kind of talk a little bit when you're texting or talking on the phone, but then it's like when you see 'em, it's almost like coming back to school for the first day again. And you remember like this is the person that I grind with, you know, when you're talking about blood, sweat, and tears and just trying to be able to put in the work to achieve this goal that everybody sets themselves out to be able to do. So it's kind of cool and you get to like see, hey man, like what's been up with you, like what's been going on, and a lot of people have, you know, different endeavors and stuff that they've been getting themselves into and so it's kind of pretty good to hear about it. - [Interviewer] What was the gist of Mike McDonald's first message to you guys in your first meeting? - I think the biggest thing that Mike was just talking to us about was visualizing, like being able to understand the type of dominant team that he wants us to be. Obviously we got new coaches and just being able to give grace to the coaches as everybody kinda learns, like this new position that everybody's in and just being able to understand that we want to go out here, we want to be physical. Like I said, dominance is very, very important and not really letting stuff slip under the rug. - [Interviewer] You've been here a long time, what was it like hearing- - You make it seem like I'm old. - [Interviewer] No, I didn't mean I didn't mean it that way, I just meant you, you've heard, you know, What was it like hearing a different voice a different coach at the front of the podium, front of the room for so many years. What was it like hearing a different voice? - I mean obviously it's different but I mean I think the biggest thing that you gotta do is you gotta renew your mind and one of the things that you learn growing up as a kid is you know when people are talking, you know, take the meat and you leave the bones, pause. And so it's like what you end up doing is you listen to what people say and you know you absorb that information and you say like, okay, like I'm gonna take this. Like I'm learning that, I'm learning that. And so for me, when you have that mindset of learning and it really doesn't matter who's up here or who's coaching or who's talking, you always got something to be able to learn and always something that could be able to help you to get to the best part that you wanna be able to get to. - [Interviewer] Kyle, I'm sorry if you already asked this, Why did you redo your contract but why did you redo your contract? - I mean I think for me, like you know, Seattle's home, obviously it's a business, and so you gotta, you know, kind of look, and see what's good for them, you see what's good for yourself as well and with everything that I've, you know, had a chance to be able to do and become, it's really cool that you hear that the staff wants you to be on the team as well. You know what I'm saying? It's cool to hear stuff about John whenever he is talking to my agent and kind of see how they see me, how they still view me, like all that different type of stuff because I think at the end of the day like every player just wants to feel appreciated and they want to be able to feel like they're still a part the team and you know, people still feel like they got stuff to give and all that different type of stuff and you know, believe it or not, like as you get older, like sometimes things change and people might view you different but you know, he wasn't able to view me any differently. He still saw me as the same player that I've been and still believes in me that I could still do a lot of great things and so, you know, still gave me this opportunity to come in here and still be able to play, and so obviously there's things that you restructure, there's things that you work out to where it still works out on both accords. I try not to get too much into the contract because you know, I'm still kind of in a blessed situation and so everybody kind of talks about the contract and talk about the money or say that's a pay cut or whatever it is. But I mean it's enough for us to still be here and it's enough for them to still want me. - [Interviewer] What was your initial reaction when you heard that, What was your initial reaction when you heard that Pete Lembo was not the coach anymore that he was not gonna be the coach anymore? - I mean I was shocked. I mean I think everybody was shocked. I mean sometimes you know, if you're here long enough you see it coming, you know like I've seen so many tweets and stuff about people saying it was time for me to go and you know, I think Sherm has said it a long time ago, like the longer you stay the longer you become a villain. But you know, it's like when you hear so early you're so loved and everybody wants to see more of you, all that different type of stuff. And so I think, you know, when Pete was let go, I mean you know, it was real shocking because when I looked out through the course of my life, like I've literally almost had the same coaches my whole life. Like you go to college, I had Bill Snyder my whole career. You come here to the NFL, I was with Pete for nine straight years, high school I literally almost had my same coach the whole four years. Some stuff happened after year three, so we got a new coach, but I've literally had like three or four coaches my whole, you know, life from high school to now. And so it's just kind of weird but at the same time, like it's a new experience. There's a lot of things that you could be able to learn from him, you know, he's a great defensive mind, you know as as Pete was as well, and even though there's some philosophies that may be the same or some that's different, like this is a young cat that you can be able to learn from and you could be able to like understand his mentality, like what made them so great out there in Baltimore, like what made him pick the coaches to be able to come here to be a part of the team. And also it's kind of like that thing of like for me, I haven't got to do it but you know when you transfer and you go somewhere else, it's like okay, everything is new. The cool part for me is like the familiarity is still the same, like the strength and conditioning coaches are the same. The athletic training staff like Mo Kelly, EK, the equipment staff, like the third floor, a lot of stuff is still the same. It's just the coaches are kind of new. And so what you gotta do is establish a relationship and understand like how do you coach, how do you see the game? This is how I see the game, this is how I play, and now you're just working to recreate that chemistry. So when you go out there like we all are speaking the same language. - [Interviewer] So far, what have you noticed that's different? - I mean it's been three days, you know, the biggest difference is no basketball goal. So, but we still got one in the indoor unless they take it out. Since I just said that. - [Interviewer] Tyler, you guys played his defense What stood out to you about the Ravens defense last year last year in Baltimore. What stood out to you about how he put a defense together, the way they tried to shut you guys down, the kind of hallmarks of what his scheme did? - Yeah, I mean I think their defense was really good. I think that they had a bunch of vets that was there, a bunch of people that understood the game. I think they had a bunch of selfless people on our team who understood their assignments, understood the importance of where they needed to be and why it was so important, and just being able to gel together and they went out there and played, didn't really care who got the credit because you know, as long as one got the credit, everybody got the credit 'cause they balled together inside. So it didn't create any animosity, it didn't create anything to where it was like, it's all about me. It wasn't me driven, you know, it was team driven, and so I think that's the biggest thing that you see when you watch them. They did a great job even all the way up until when they lost in the AFC championship. And so, I mean super cool, like I said, that he's here and with the talent and stuff that we have, I mean I'm sure, there's a lot of great things that he could be able to do, a lot of great schemes that he can get the defenses into, and then you have Grubs that's a offensive mind coach and I can only imagine them going at it each and every day at practice where it's one of those iron sharpens irons. So if we lose, I'm sure Grubs is gonna be like, "Hey man, what made you think that?" Like was it something that we ticked off to the defense to make them understand our splits or where we lined up at? And so I think it's just gonna be like a little rivalry within the team. - [Interviewer] What have you committed to do as a leader What have you committed to do as a leader to making sure that people are on the same page, that you're speaking the same language, that maybe you are bridging kind of the gap for some of these guys? - Yeah, I mean I think for me, like the biggest thing that I have to do is just continue to meet people where they're at, especially with this new transition, understanding that not every transition is the same and not every transition is always normal. Like, you know, I've been here for nine years and so it is weird in a sense being here for nine years, but there's a lot of stuff that's different about being in the same place. And so you gotta be able to help people along when it comes to different type of coaching, the different styles of coaching, the different ways that coaches may talk to players, the different ways that they might teach the game, the different names that they call the routes. Like a lot of things change and so sometimes you gotta be able to carry players with you, sometimes you need players to carry you. And so it's kind of like whatever it is that they need me to do, you know, you try to find ways to do it to where you don't lose yourself but you're still yourself while you're helping each and every person. - [Interviewer] Like you said, it's only three days, but what stands out about Ryan Grub as an offensive mind? What stands out about Ryan Tannehill - I mean, I think when you talk about Ryan, like I think he's like a real secure person. Like he understands who he is. Like the composure I think is incredible. He's standing up here, he's talking about an offense, obviously it's his, but you know, you could tell like he respects it and he appreciates it and it's a offense to where like you really have to study and you gotta be intellectual to be able to understand it and to be able to learn it because it, it just, it's a lot of memorization. And so I do think it's really cool and I do think it's unique. I do think he has a lot of creative ways, when you listen to him talk it's like, you know, you see the game the same way as he sees it. And so I'm super excited just to be able to kind of like learn from him and just kind of see what he brings to this team. - [Interviewer] In terms of the diversity of the offense with what he brings, does it feel exciting to be in that room? Does it feel exciting to be in that room Not like it wasn't last year, but just with all that he can bring and maybe if you watched any of what the Huskies did last year? - Yeah, I mean I think, you know, there's definitely an excitement, you know, and stuff like that. I mean, you know, when I've played since I've been here 10 years ago, I've had a coordinator every three years and so I mean the pretty cool part of having a new coordinator is like you learn different schemes, different tactics, different coaches, different levels of thinking, different parts of the game. So it's like really cool to just be able to like pick people's brains. And so just from my nine years of just learning from each coordinator, it's like sometimes the worst thing that you can do as a player in my position is to think that you know everything. And so with Grubs coming in, it's like I want to be able to listen to him and learn from him and see how he sees the game because like he said, he was just a high school coach at one point, then I think he said he went to Fresno and then he talked about how he went maybe somewhere else and then UDub and then before you know it, he's up here. And so he obviously knows something about the game that a lot of these coaches respect and they love about him because he got to the NFL even after being able to take a team to the NCAA championship. Expectations for the team - [Interviewer] What are your expectations for the team this season? - You know, I haven't thought that far honestly. It's just I this point we gotta learn the playbook. Like there's a lot of stuff that we could be able to do. I mean obviously we got the talent, but at this point it is just, you gotta sit in the classroom, you know what I mean? We gotta learn because the things that we might have brought previously, like you don't know if you could still bring that because it's based off of the intellectual assignments. It's based off of the way that we're trying to talk about the defense and talk about the offense. So like right now, I mean yeah everybody's goal is always the Super Bowl, but like, you know, I'm kind of getting to a point where it's like man that's like 200 days out. Like we gotta win today. You know what I mean? We gotta be in today, we gotta focus today, we gotta do whatever we can to be one step better today. Because you know, if we just focus on so far it's like that's the distance, but like let's focus on the steps to be able to get to where we need to be so we could be successful. - [Interviewer] How are you feeling physically? - How am I feeling physically? How are you feeling I mean I'm feeling like any other 31-year-old, I feel great. How'd you feel at 31? I don't, you don't have to answer that. You don't. I mean I feel great man. I also want to just say, you know, rest in peace to Allen too. You know, I think sometimes when you know people pass away, it does bring back this thing in life where you realize life is so short and we just gotta be able to be grateful and we just gotta be able to enjoy life man 'cause we just never know, you know, what's gonna be able to happen. And so we appreciate him and everything that he's done, everything that he brought to us and you know, just made his legacy and everything continue to live on. - [Interviewer] What was your off season like the two months business wise and then 30-year-old? How does a 31-year-old get ready for another season? - How was my off season? Yeah, let's see. Offseason So I studied 60 hours to renew my license in Washington. I studied 98 to renew my hours in Texas. So I finished the Washington in January. I finished the Texas in February, then I just studied 150 hours for Oregon and I just passed the national exam, then I passed the state exam. So now I'm waiting to get my license in Oregon. So I did all that. Now I can go play golf, you know. Now I can go do all the football stuff like, so it was a lot of cool stuff man. But the real estate part is going great. The cool part is now that I'm kind of finishing up year two in a sense out here, a lot of people don't even ask the questions of do you know what you're doing? It's like I could say, hey man, we listed this house, it went pending in two days, 100k over, hey we, you know, we listed this house, it went 25 over in two days. Like, so now it's like when you're having these conversations people are like, oh wow. Like we literally see like what you're doing and we literally see what you're bringing. And so I think it's really cool man. It's a great opportunity. I encourage like every single player, it is hard when you come into the league because you automatically think from day one, like, that's not gonna be me. I'm always gonna be playing like I'm gonna be done when I say that I'm done, and that's not the case for a lot of players, and like I would just encourage every player like whatever it is that you want to do in your life, like do it as you're playing football. You don't have to let the world know what you're doing, 'cause sometimes coaches will say, hey man, he ain't playing to his like, to how we think he's play, probably 'cause he doing this or pro. So you're gonna deal with stuff like that. But like for me it's gonna be so much easier for me because I'm trying to make it easy for me. The day that I choose to retire, I already have everything lined up to where it's a easier transition rather than just being done now I'm sitting at home like, what do I wanna do now? Oh I wanna do real estate. Well now I gotta study. So nobody wants to go back to class after you graduate. That's the hardest thing to do. And so it's like for me to set it all up now, well now you got fans that wanna be a part of like what you're doing. You got fans asking, hey, can you sell my house? Can you co list this with somebody else? Like now you're getting all these opportunities that you might not have gotten if you retired 'cause when you retired, like think about guys that's retired and think about like, would you still wanna do things with them after they retired or would you want to do things with them now? Like for some people it stays the same, for other people they want to do it while your name is hot. And so why not take advantage of those opportunities to do a lot of great things while you're still playing. And so that way when you're done playing, like the standard is already here, like the standard isn't like, I wanna sell two house. Now you're like, I wanna sell 40, because you've already got to like 10, you already got the 15, you already got the 20. So like for me, I encourage everybody like whatever it is you want to do, man, like go as hard as it as you do in football, but just know balance. That's all you gotta do. Know time management. Understand what's more important at the time. Like all right, we in the season focus on football, you know, but when we're in the off season, like it's the off season, like you know how to grind and how to start whatever endeavor that it is that you want to do next. - [Interviewer] Along those, go ahead. Future - [Interviewer] The way that you set that up for yourself, have there been any thoughts about, you know what, let me just do this. Have you known for a while that you want to keep going with football this season, next season into the future? Or have, were there ever thoughts about, you know, let me just pursue this other ventures. - Huh? - [Interviewer] Have you thought at all about just doing real estate? You know, do you know that you want to continue to play like beyond this season? Has that been a thought at all for you? - Oh, I mean man, I just focus on one year at a time 'cause like honestly man, things change. Like man, I got married, like things change. You gotta learn how to be a husband and depend on other people and talk and you know, providing the support to other people and sometimes it's not all about you anymore. So things change. Like I think for me, I'm grateful to be on the same team for nine years going into year 10. Like did I ever think I would play for 10 years? No. Like, but I say that 'cause it's like not that, yeah, eight was my goal but like also it's like, it's crazy to me to think that you're even on the same team for going into 10 years. Like usually everybody moves around. It has to go to one team or two teams. And I've been fortunate to be on the same team and so like every year man, I just try to challenge myself. Like let's go out there and let's be great. Obviously the position that I play sometimes like, it's unfortunate because all people ever care about is stats and they don't think about like what you bring to the team. They don't think about, you know what I'm saying? How you help each and every player to try to get to where they supposed to be. Like they don't understand the term and what it means to be a captain, how you gotta sacrifice things at times. Like they don't understand how you gotta be a decoy at times to be able to help other people out. Like it's so much stuff that people don't think about. They just think about stats, contract, whatever. And they don't understand the importance of having people on a team that can be able to help you in the logistic of not just being a captain, but you gotta be a counselor too when you are a captain. Like you gotta be able to counsel players and like sit there with 'em and cry with 'em and weep with them and like mope with them. You gotta do all that different type of stuff. It's more than just being able to play football, like a lot of people don't understand that. And so, like for me, I love doing that 'cause I feel like it's a part of my purpose. Like meet people where they're at love on people, show 'em the love of God, like all that different type of stuff. And so like, I mean one day I know I'll be done and when I'm done I'm not gonna regret it 'cause I know that I played as much as I wanted to play, as long as I wanted to play and all that different type of stuff. But I also know like if you leave earlier than you want to, then you gonna regret it because you gonna be like, dang, I want to come back. And we all know when you in your thirties they see you as old. So it's gonna be hard to come back. And so for me it's like man, just play as long as you want to play and when it's time to put 'em up, then you just put 'em up. - Last question. - So Washington State Girls Football will look to sanction girls like football, to you what's the important of having that sport in high school for girls to be able to participate in? - First off, I think it's dope and I think it's cool that they be able to do that. I'm thinking off the top of my head, I wanna say that there's 10 other states that's already done that, right? So it would be 11 for Washington and I think it's just like a really cool opportunity. But I also do think that it should be a sport because as you look at even what's happening in the Pro Bowl with flag football becoming a thing and I think that it is gonna continue to be something that's gonna be really big down the line. And I think it's a way that women can be able to be a part of football and play football and stuff like that. And like, we gonna win a championship out here. So I mean I encourage them to be able to do it. Like they should be able to have some of us as coaches, like we love to be able to go out there and coach and support. So I definitely think they should do that, like right now. All right. Appreciate y'all. Please don't put no more trade requests out there for me 'cause I see y'all's articles about me getting traded, like no.