RENTON — Usually, Abe Lucas is about as emotional as a stone slab.
Publicly, the Seahawks’ massive right tackle would sooner let a pass rusher run by him to his quarterback than laugh. Or, often, smile. When he does joke, it’s deadpan.
Yet the Archbishop Murphy High School graduate was glowing Thursday thinking about his parents, his family, his loved ones — and his new, $46 million contract. The 6-foot-6, 322-pound Lucas and his favorite team since he was 3 years old agreed to that days before he begins his fourth NFL season against San Francisco Sunday at Lumen Field.
“Pretty surreal,” the 26-year-old said multiple times in 5 minutes.
His first call Thursday with the news he got a new contract was to his father, Kelly. He and his mother, Julie, raised Abe in Everett, and through the community at the St. Thomas More Parish Catholic church in Lynnwood. Abe and his dad watched Seahawks games on TV at home together in suburban Seattle, when little Abe was 3. He was going to call Mom in the afternoon.
“Pretty surreal,” Abe Lucas said, again.
“I think I’m still trying to process everything.
“Just the doors that something like that can open up, and the people that you can help, that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”
That’s what Abe Lucas plays for. It’s why he bulled through 12 months in a long, lonely rehabilitation from tricky, patella-tendon surgery on his aching knee in January 2024.
The new contract validates the idea that Lucas, along with bookend tackle Charles Cross, has come all the way back to be one of the sure things on the team’s otherwise iffy, remade offensive line. It’s the key to this season. And beyond.
“That’s amazing. I’m so happy for Abe,” Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold said. “Happy for him and his family. It’s just incredible stuff whenever you can see something like that go down, and you get to congratulate him in person.
“Abe has always brought such a positive attitude. Even in a funny, joking way or when it’s super hot out there and he’s out there with the cold towel on his head saying, ‘I love this.’ You guys can fill in the blank on the next word that he says.”
Darnold says he is impressed by Lucas’ dogged work each day.
“He deserves every penny of that,” Darnold said of the new deal.
It came three days before Lucas begins the final season of his rookie contract — injury-free, for a change.
He missed the first months of last season. He had surgery on his knee in January 2024 to fix long-term pain. The surgeon who performed the operation told Lucas it would be a full year before he felt better. He returned to playing in 10 1/2 months.
He acknowledged this offseason that he wasn’t fully right in the seven games he played last season.
This was the first offseason he trained full go, fully healthy since he’s been in the league. And he’s practiced and played like it this summer.
Now Lucas is going to be around for the beyond.
“Number one, Abe is a worker,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said after practice Thursday.
“I know he’s been through plenty in his career, injury-wise. And he’s really battled in practice every day. …
“Couldn’t be happier for him.”
Once it became evident at WSU he had a future playing in the NFL, how much was this, a second, lucrative contract in the league, Lucas’ goal?
“It’s part of it, obviously,” he said. “But for me, the goal has always been to be as great as I could be, and then that’s just part of the deal.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro player. That’s still what I’m going to work for. This is just another tick on the box.
“There is still more for me to do. I’m going to get after that.”
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