Ricardo

Lockette

“He’s got tremendous speed. ... He’s got great skills,” said Carroll. “He’s 6-2 something and he’s just learning the game. A very, very raw player but a guy that we really see a lot of great stuff.” Undrafted a year ago, Lockette has a ton of competition for a roster spot, but should be able to latch on with a strong camp.

An undrafted rookie out of Fort Valley State, Lockette has great size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), but wasn’t considered more than a special teamer by most draft analysts last spring. His stay on the active roster could be short.

The Seahawks are the healthiest they’ve been in quite a while, with Tarvaris Jackson’s arm strength back and the receiver corps in good shape since losing Sidney Rice. Defensively, Seattle has stepped it up in recent weeks.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in March Lockette was a player he saw a “big future in,” and the local media may be starting to agree. However, WRs coach Kippy Brown cautions Lockette still has a long way to go. "(He’s) making progress,” Brown said Monday. “But we don’t want to move him a lot because he performs better when we kind of keep him in one spot. But we could, and there will be times that we will.”

Lockette has fallen far behind Golden Tate and Braylon Edwards in the battle for the starting split end job. At this point, he “appears to be just competing for a roster spot.” The speedy former Fort Valley State star remains a raw speed merchant.

Lockette spent 2012 on the practice squad after failing to make it past final cuts in Seattle. Although blessed with insane vertical speed, the former undrafted free agent out of Fort Valley State has just two career catches and likely won’t last long in 49ers camp.

Welcome to the offseason, where end-of-roster talents get talked up as potential breakout players. “There’s just something about him that I’m really fired up about,” Harbaugh said. “He’s got something else to him, too, besides just the analytical size, strength, speed. There’s something special there. I just feel it.” Where there’s one pump-up article, there’s usually another, but it’s very hard to see track athlete Lockette making an impact in 2013.

Lockette’s roster spot was needed for QB Seneca Wallace. We haven’t had a blurb on Lockette since March when coach Jim Harbaugh said he was “fired up” about the 27-year-old receiver. Lockette is a straight-line speedster, but couldn’t crack a 49ers receiving corps starving for talent.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are considering Lockette for a practice-squad spot. It would be unusual for the Bears to stash a 27 year old, but perhaps they’re intrigued by Lockette’s considerable speed.

Lockette spent the summer with the 49ers before being cut ten days ago. He has some long speed, but it’s never translated to games. Unga and Onobun were in training camp with the Bears before being part of final cuts.