Even as he waved at fans while being carted off the field, it was easy to assume the worst about Ricardo Lockette after a horrific collision crumpled him to the ground on a punt return in the Seattle Seahawks’ win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. But the news out of Baylor Medical Center in Dallas is very good, considering the circumstances: Lockette has full motion and feeling in all his extremities.
Lockette will undergo surgery at Baylor to repair ligament damage in his neck Monday afternoon, but it looks like he avoided the much more serious and dangerous injury of vertebra or spinal-cord damage. There’s no word on whether Lockette sustained a concussion, but no news is good news on that front. The team announced that Lockette’s “prognosis is good.” It’s unclear exactly what it means for his playing career or season, but that’s obviously secondary to the relief of knowing that he won’t be paralyzed or otherwise seriously affected.
The Seahawks say they will give an update on his condition once surgery is completed, after which point they might begin figuring out a possible timetable for his return to the team. Lockette was their fourth receiver, and Chris Matthews is behind him on the depth chart.
(Via Seahawks.com)
