Seahawks rookie Tyler Lockett’s returns already are a must-watch

To the folks at Apple, you have an opportunity here: the Tyler Lockett app.

Once downloaded, it would alert people whenever the Seahawks rookie is set to return a punt or kickoff, because — let’s be honest here — nobody wants to miss that.

Ideally, the app also would stream the returns so churchgoers can sneak in a viewing. Don’t worry. Nobody would notice.

This dude scores in a hurry.

On a team fraught with infectious personalities, Lockett has emerged as the Hawks’ greatest source of entertainment. With two touchdown returns in three games, he has become can’t-miss for fans and can’t-catch for opponents.

Sunday, Lockett’s 105-yard kickoff return put his team up by 13 points and served as the left hook in Seattle’s TKO. Yes, that play was the beginning of the end for the Bears, but for the third-rounder out of Kansas State … this should be just the beginning.

“He’s special,” said Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham, who also scored a touchdown in the quarter. “The kid is young, and the kid is hungry. Eventually, people are going to learn that you just can’t kick to him.”

Noooo, Jimmy! Don’t start giving teams any ideas. Removing the prospect of a Lockett return is akin to rolling the dessert tray away.

The moments between him catching the ball and the play being over are the most delicious of the game. You have to think there are a few Hawks fans who, when the opponent is within field-goal range, secretly root for a score just to see No. 16 back on the field.

Two weeks after his 57-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Rams — the first regular-season punt return of his NFL career — Lockett became the first Seahawk to take a punt and kickoff to the house in the same season since Nate Burleson did it in 2007. And these two scoring sprints follow a preseason in which Lockett returned a kick 103 yards to the end zone and caught a 63-yard touchdown pass.

This is probably why, toward the end of the first quarter, Lockett faked out every Bear on the punt team by pretending that the ball was coming his way, only to have teammate Richard Sherman receive it on the other side of the field and return it 64 yards to Chicago’s 19-yard line. A ho-hum returner wouldn’t have commanded that much attention.

The Seahawks scored a field goal on the ensuing drive. Go ahead and give Lockett credit for those three points.

“He has shown himself to be one of the more dangerous returners in the league,” Sherman said of Lockett. “He’s making it so he’s in those All-Pro, Pro Bowl conversations.”

Whenever a star emerges — and that’s exactly what Lockett is becoming — people try to get clever in describing them. Among the Twitter suggestions for his return game Sunday was “Lock ’n Load” and “Pop it and Lockett.”

But maybe we don’t need to put a label on the show this kid is putting on just yet.

Maybe we just sit back and enjoy this first-round-caliber talent Seattle somehow snagged with the 69th overall choice in the draft this year.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Lockett — who also has six receptions for 51 yards this year — has been as modest off the field as he has been magical on it.

He credited Seahawks special-teams coach Brian Schneider and the 10 teammates out there with him as the main reasons for his success. He added that his goal when returning kicks was to simply gain 10 yards each time.

He later joked he had to refine his acting skills in practice so as to sell the fake in the first quarter, telling reporters, “I always wanted to be an actor. I just got my first gig.”

Lockett might not be a proper actor, but he is as fun a performer as anyone on the silver screen. He also happens to be a devastating force who can swing a game in 15 seconds or less.

And though it’s unlikely that smartphones will have an app for him anytime soon, it’s even less likely opponents will have an answer.