\u201cAbout as good a human being as you\u2019ve ever met in your life,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0one of his former coaches.<\/p>\n In 2014, the Seahawks made their second consecutive Super Bowl. They drafted Lockett out of Kansas State in the third round of 2015. A brutal break, surely, but it gets worse. While the Seahawks cemented themselves as\u00a0the league\u2019s best team<\/a>\u00a0in 2025, Lockett was playing for\u00a0two\u00a0of the worst teams: the Titans and Raiders. (The 33-year-old was released by Tennessee in October, then rejoined Pete Carroll in Las Vegas.)<\/p>\n \u00a0He isn\u2019t the first player to miss both sides of success. Here are a few others, inspired by this\u00a0Reddit thread<\/a>:<\/p>\n All-Pro guard\u00a0Logan Mankins\u00a0was a mainstay on the 2000s Patriots, once playing\u00a018 games on a torn ACL<\/a>. Yet he somehow never won a Super Bowl. New England claimed the Lombardi in 2004 and 2014. Mankins was there from 2005 to 2013. Dang.<\/p>\n Wes Welker, an All-Pro receiver and Mankins\u2019 teammate in New England, lost all three of his Super Bowls (two with the Patriots and one with the Broncos). Both teams won within three years of his departure.<\/p>\n In 2017,\u00a0Brandin Cooks\u00a0lost Super Bowl 52 while with the Patriots. He was traded to the Rams in 2018, then lost that year\u2019s Super Bowl to the Patriots.<\/p>\n Then there are players like Takeo Spikes. The All-Pro linebacker never made the playoffs despite playing 15 seasons across five teams. Great name, bad bounce!<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure you know more \u2014 please share them in the comments below. As for this postseason \u2026<\/p>\n This article is from Scoop City, The Athletic\u2019s NFL newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive it directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n Epic playoff moments<\/p>\n These playoffs felt weird, right?<\/p>\n It was the first since 1998 that didn\u2019t feature Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Patrick Mahomes.\u00a0A quarterback who hadn\u2019t attempted a pass all season started in the AFC Championship. The Bears won a playoff game against Green Bay for the first time since 1941. Heck, the Panthers and Jaguars were in it!<\/p>\n My colleague Steven Louis Goldstein assembled the\u00a0regular season\u2019s best plays<\/a>, but I wanted to highlight three from the postseason that deserve to be remembered:<\/p>\n 3. Patriots receiver Keyshon Boutte\u2019s\u00a0one-handed touchdown\u00a0against elite Houston corner Derek Stingley Jr. The circumstances made it even better. Fourth quarter. Playoff game. Patriots only up five. In ugly New England weather. Stingley even\u00a0tried to kick the ball<\/a>\u00a0while it was in Boutte\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n 2. Rashid Shaheed\u2019s opening kickoff return\u00a0for a touchdown against the 49ers on Seattle\u2019s first play of the postseason. As the Niners kicker learned after this failed slide tackle, it was difficult to stop these Seahawks.<\/p>\n 1. Caleb Williams\u2019 game-saving touchdown\u00a0to Cole Kmet, which I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll ever forget. Had Chicago won that game, it would\u2019ve been up there with the greatest plays of all time.\u00a0It might still be<\/a>.<\/p>\n Over to Ted Nguyen for a note from the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n What Ted\u2019s Seeing: What Seattle knew<\/p>\n Mike Macdonald wants to break things. He wants to wreck opposing protection schemes with blitzes and simulated pressures.<\/p>\n However, his defense excelled because he tempered down his aggressiveness. Defensive coordinator Aden Durde recognized the defensive line was so good that it didn\u2019t need to be as exotic schematically.<\/p>\n Against the Patriots in Super Bowl 60, the\u00a0Seahawks smelled blood in the water<\/a>. In the first quarter, Macdonald called blitzes on 23 percent of his plays. Defensive back Devon Witherspoon, who blitzed more in the Super Bowl than he had all season, told\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0they saw something in the Patriots\u2019 protection scheme that they wanted to expose.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about timing. You have to time up the blitz perfectly. We knew how they would protect in certain looks,\u201d said Witherspoon.<\/p>\n One of the reasons they turned up the heat early was because they knew they could expose the protection. Also, blitzing is a way of caging in Drake Maye, one of the best scramblers in the league.<\/p>\n Whether it was intended or not, the early pressure caused Maye\u2019s internal clock to speed up for the rest of the game.\u00a0Macdonald dialed back the blitzes after building a lead and let his front four dominate\u00a0like they have all season.\u00a0More in the full story<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Back to you, Jacob.<\/p>\n Extra Points<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcca\u00a0Ranking non-playoff teams.\u00a0In yesterday\u2019s poll, you voted for the Lions as the team most likely to return to the postseason, followed by the Chiefs and Ravens. Elsewhere, Mike Jones\u00a0ranked all 18 of those teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udccb\u00a0Ready for mock drafts?\u00a0Our beat reporters projected how the draft might unfold for the\u00a0Bears<\/a>,\u00a0Colts<\/a>,\u00a0Ravens<\/a>,\u00a0Falcons<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vikings<\/a>. The\u00a0Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0wisely go offensive line.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc3\u00a0What does Giants co-owner Steve Tisch actually do\u00a0for the team? He is under scrutiny due to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, so my colleagues investigated\u00a0his role<\/a>.<\/p>\n \ud83e\udd85\u00a0Eagles fix?\u00a0Anyone who wants to see Saquon Barkley succeed in Philadelphia should read Brooks Kubena\u2019s preview of how a staff overhaul\u00a0changes the Eagles offense<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u25b6\ufe0f Yesterday\u2019s most-clicked:\u00a0The\u00a0biggest offseason needs<\/a>\u00a0for all 32 teams, though new ownership might be the real answer for many.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udceb Enjoyed this read? Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Athletic\u2019s free NFL newsletter in your inbox.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIn March 2025, Seattle released him, then won the Super Bowl 11 months later.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/301c178b70c3450b93e9ea89a1b58ed4-ezgif.gif\"\/)
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