Mike Williams has been put on injured reserve after breaking his left ankle last week against the Chicago Bears. He reportedly underwent successful ankle surgery today.
What does this mean for your Seattle Seahawks wide receiving crew? First off, it means we have lost significant size at the position as Mike Williams (6'5), Kris Durham (6'5), and Sidney Rice (6'4) are all on injured reserve. Secondly, it means undrafted rookie Ricardo Lockette (6'2) will have his shot at being active on game day.
So who is Ricardo Lockette exactly? He is an undrafted wide receiver from Fort Valley State (division II school) with a ton of upside. He is reportedly a very fast learner, and is still relatively new to football; the reason being is because he has a background in track & field. Lockette is an absolute speed demon. In 2008, he was the NCAA Division II 200-meter champion with a time of 20.63 seconds (19.19 is the world record), and has a personal best of 10.00 seconds in the 100-meter dash (9.58 is the world record). His 40-yard dash is under 4.3 seconds, and he entered the NFL combine looking to break the combine record. Speed-wise, he is in a separate category with players like Chris Johnson and Desean Jackson. The Seahawks don't call him "Lockette the Rocket" for no reason, this guy is fast!
I am curious to see if Lockette and Deon Butler will play a bigger role in this Saturday's game against the 49ers. San Francisco has a vaunted run-defense that completely shut down the Pittsburgh Steelers last night on the national 'Monday Night' stage. As good as their defense is, their pass defense is 21st in the league and they are 28th in the league against pass plays that run 40 yards+. With the speed of Butler and Lockette on the edge, I wonder if Pete Carroll and Co. will take advantage of it and try to exploit the 49ers' weak deep pass defense.
What do you all think?
