The Giants today added depth and experience to their offensive line with the addition of veteran Sean Locklear.
Locklear, 6-4 and 310 pounds, played seven years with the Seattle Seahawks before spending last season with the Washington Redskins. He has played in 105 regular season games with 82 starts.
Locklear once played on a losing Super Bowl team and is happy to join a squad that just won a championship.
"It's exciting," said Locklear, who will attend the opening of the Giants' offseason conditioning program on Monday. "I was on the other end of two games against the Giants last year – followed them pretty well in their run to the Super Bowl. But, actually, when I got the call I was kind of excited about the chance to actually play in New York and who doesn't want to play with the team who just got done winning the Super Bowl? My thing is to just get in here and start fresh, start learning again and try to help this team get back to where they want to go."
Locklear entered the NFL from North Carolina State as a third round draft choice (84th overall selection) of the Seattle Seahawks in 2004. He spent seven seasons in Seattle, playing in all 16 regular season games four times and starting at least 10 games in every season but his rookie year.
In 2005, Locklear started all of the Seahawks' 19 games at right tackle, including Seattle's loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL. That year, he helped Shaun Alexander rush for a franchise-record 1,880 yards and win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
Locklear joined the Redskins as a free agent on Aug. 5, 2011. In his one season in Washington, Locklear played in eight games with four starts for the Redskins. He started three games at left tackle – Oct. 23 at Carolina, Oct. 30 in Toronto vs. Buffalo and Dec. 11 vs. New England – and one at right tackle (Nov. 13 at Miami).
"When I came in they told me I was going to be the swing tackle," Locklear said. "So I was expecting when guys get nicked or hurt, just be there, the veteran of the group. But I ended up playing a lot more than I expected."
Although he can play either tackle spot, Locklear has a preference.
"I prefer right," Locklear said of the position that has been manned by Kareem McKenzie since 2005. McKenzie is an unrestricted free agent. "That's the position I played the most. But, you know, I can play both. I'm willing to play both – wherever it fits.
"I talked to all of the coaches – the offensive line coach (Pat Flaherty), Coach (Tom) Coughlin. They said 'Come and compete, just like everybody else. Nothing is handed to you.' Which, we all know that. Nothing's handed to me. So I'm excited to get here and obviously learn and be ready to get back to playing football."
Locklear played defensive end and tackle in his first two seasons (including a redshirt year) at North Carolina State. In his final three seasons, he played almost every snap while starting 27 consecutive games at several offensive line positions. As a senior in 2003, he became the first Wolfpack offensive lineman to be named first-team All-ACC since 1992. He graduated with a degree in sport management.
Locklear played offense and defense for Lumberton High School in North Carolina. As a senior, he was voted the team MVP after catching 22 passes for 450 yards and averaging 11 tackles a game on defense.
Locklear was born on May 29, 1981.
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