Curran: Patriots should rescue Tyler Lockett from Seattle's fire sale

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If the Seahawks are really running a garage sale out in the Pacific Northwest -- and it seems they are -- the Patriots need to pull up and ask, "How much for that Tyler Lockett over there?"

Because the Seahawks reportedly have Lockett on the lawn.

Iā€™ve thought Lockett was a perfect Patriots fit since he came out of K-State in 2015. Witness this fun-to-look-back-onĀ column the Senator and I did backseat driving what the Patriots should do in that draft.

At the time, I figured Lockett would be the perfect guy to groom to replace Julian Edelman.

And who did the Patriots bring in to replace Edelman? I guess Braxton Berrios? And who did the Patriots take with their first three picks in the 2015 draft? Malcom Brown. Jordan Richards. Geneo Grissom.

Meanwhile, Lockett (taken 69th) has been one of the leagueā€™s most productive players with the ball in his hands for six seasons. Heā€™s missed one regular-season game since coming into the league. Heā€™s got 36 receiving touchdowns in the past four years while going over 1,000 yards three times and having 965 yards in the other.

Lockett is a menace in the slotĀ but also makes plays downfield. And for a guy whoā€™s 5-10, 185, the touchdown numbers are eye-opening in part because he came into the league running a 4.4. Heā€™s not as sudden as Edelman was (very few are) but heā€™d be quicker in short spaces than anyone the Patriots currently have at wideout. Which means Jakobi Meyers could slide out of the slot and take his production and reliability elsewhere in the offense.

Our guy Justin Leger jumped on the possibility of the soon-to-be-30-year-old Lockett after the Broncos traded for Russell Wilson.

In hashing that out, Leger found this tweet from the always-reliable Miguel Benzan detailing the dough New England would have to pay for Lockettā€™s services.

Meanwhile, the cap website OverTheCap.com has a detailed breakdown of Lockettā€™s deal which shows that the Seahawks would be the ones taking the thrashing if they dealt Lockett before June 1 (15.2M in dead money) because theyā€™d be paying that $13M option bonus but a trade after June 1 would result in just $3.8M in dead money and $6.2M in cap savings). The looming issue for the Patriots would be the ballooning salaries Lockett is down for in 2024 and 2025 ($15.3M) and the $13M option bonus. But that may be part of the Seahawks reasoning for moving him.

Miguel would rather go younger. I wouldnā€™t. Thirty is plenty young, especially for a player with the demonstrated durability of Lockett. Heā€™s a better player than current Patriot Nelson Agholor or reported trade-target Robby Anderson (Lockett is deployed differently than those two as well). And if it takes a first-round pick to give Mac Jones an experienced toy he can rely on, I love it.

The need for speed AND quickness on the Patriots offense is immediate. And Lockett would address both. Would he have been less expensive six years ago? Yes. But better late than never.

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