Seahawks will reportedly offer Garry Gilliam lowest restricted free agent tender

Seattle Seahawks right tackle Garry Gilliam is a restricted free agent, and the team is reportedly going to place the lowest possible tender value on him, which is $1.797 million. ESPN’s Seahawks beat writer Sheil Kapadia was informed by a league source on Monday.

If any team makes a move to sign Gilliam once free agency starts this Thursday, the Seahawks have five days to match the offer sheet that he signs. Should Seattle opt not to match, Gilliam will be packing his bags and heading elsewhere, and the Seahawks won’t receive any draft picks as compensation, because the original-round tender was issued on an undrafted free agent. As Kapadia notes, “the Seahawks' other option would have been to offer Gilliam a second-round tender of $2.746 million,” which would’ve meant that prospective buyers would have to relinquish a second-round pick to Seattle.

Gilliam has been the Seahawks starting right tackle for two seasons, although he was benched for three games in 2016, with Bradley Sowell serving as his replacement. During Seattle’s week 15 win over the Rams, Gilliam replaced Sowell and won his starting job back the following week.

This news isn’t surprising, as Pete Carroll said at the NFL Combine that they would extend a qualifying offer to Gilliam, but never specified at which level, and the league hadn’t set the values. Because Gilliam is an original-round tender, the $1.797 million is not guaranteed, so Seattle wouldn’t be on the hook for his salary should they choose to cut him.

Seattle’s other RFAs are DeShawn Shead, Mohammed Seisay, Steven Terrell, Ronald Powell, Brock Coyle, and Dewey McDonald. The deadline to submit RFA qualifying offers is 4 PM ET/1 PM PT on Thursday.