Seattle Seahawks: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all time
By Lee Vowell
Chris Gray. 5. player. 36. . Right Guard. 1998-07
Besides the current run of success for the Seahawks, the longest stretch of happiness for 12s and Seattle football was in the mid-2000s. This is when Seattle went to its first Super Bowl in the 2005 season. One reason Seattle was so successful was Chris Gray and the Seahawks offensive line.
Gray had played for five years, mostly with the Miami Dolphins, before signing with Seattle prior to the 1998 season. He became a full-time starter in Seattle in 2000. From that year until the final year of Gray’s career in 2007, the right guard missed just one game with the Seahawks.
Gray never made a Pro Bowl, mostly overshadowed by his own peers along the Seattle line. But he was a consistently good guard that was a cog in one of the best offensive lines in NFL history.
Gray was called for only 30 penalties in his 10 seasons with Seahawks. Those 30 penalties are about 134 less than it feels like current Seattle right guard Germain Ifedi was called for in the 2017 season alone.
Only 10 of Gray’s penalties were for holding, though. This means nearly every penalty he had was for only five yards and not drive-killers.
Gray retired prior to 2008, as he had a higher risk for paralysis because of a lower back and spine injury. At the time of his retirement, Gray held the Seahawks franchise record for consecutive starts with 121.