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The Seattle Seahawks had five days to match the one-year, $2.2 million ($1.4 million guaranteed) offer sheet signed by Garry Gilliam, or else he’d be off to the San Francisco 49ers. It turns out we didn’t even need one full day to find out that Seattle isn’t going to bother retaining their former starting right tackle.
That was fast: The #Seahawks will not match OT Garry Gilliam’s offer sheet and he’s headed to SF now to sign with the #49ers, source said
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 18, 2017
Per source, Seahawks won't match 49ers' offer on Garry Gilliam. Gilliam is headed to San Francisco on 1-year, $2.2M deal.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) April 18, 2017
Gilliam was a restricted free agent, with Seattle tendering him with the lowest qualifying offer of one-year, $1.797 million, with no guaranteed money. Because Gilliam was undrafted, the 49ers do not have to send a draft pick over to Seattle as compensation. Gilliam joins Brock Coyle and Malcolm Smith on the list of former Seahawks who have made their way to San Francisco this offseason.
As I wrote yesterday, the brief benching in 2016 coupled with the plan to move Germain Ifedi to right tackle were signs to me that they weren’t going to commit to keeping him for the 2017 season. With Gilliam gone, the Seahawks will soon be moving to their fourth different full-time starting RT in the last five seasons.
At least we’ll always have this play to remember.
