Ricardo Lockette (the Rocket) made the decision to retire from the Seahawks this past Thursday (May 12, 2016). As you all know last year when playing the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 1. He fell to the field and was unresponsive for a while. Eventually he was carried away by an ambulance. In hindsight it was the medical staff that likely saved his life, because if he had tried to get up he may have paralyzed himself, or potentially even died. He suffered severe ligament damage to his neck effectively making him lose all of the support to his vertebrae.

I was at the game two weeks later when we played the Arizona Cardinals at Century Link where Lockette raised the 12th man flag. It was a very moving moment.

Unfortunately Lockette’s injury makes him unable to return to the Hawks. Some players have been able to return from similar injuries, but Lockette plays a very physical position and he now has only 50% rotation on his neck. When asked if retiring was a hard decision he said, “No, because I love my family, and I’d rather walk.”

Lockette also said, “People say, ‘Hey dude, are you sad that this happened to you and that the guy hit you and blah, blah, blah?’ No, because I’m a dog. And you live by the sword and you die by the sword. So I can’t complain about that. And I’ve done a lot of things on the field that I probably shouldn’t have gotten away with it. And I don’t regret it because I did it for my boys. And it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about showing how big and bad I was. It was about, your job is to make the Seahawks win. And so whatever it takes to get that done, that’s my job. And that’s what I was willing to do.”

Lockette expects to help in the community and also might try out a bit of media.

Well Rocket, I’d certain be interested in watching what you have to say! You’ll be a Hawk forever man. Luv Ya!