Seahawks continue adding depth at LB with Terence Garvin
Mar 24, 2017, 11:21 AM
(AP)
Make that three linebackers the Seahawks have signed in free agency.
Less than a day after adding former 49er Michael Wilhoite, Seattle has reportedly made another move to bolster its linebacker corps by agreeing to terms with Terence Garvin, a special-teams ace who’s played for Pittsburgh and Washington over four NFL seasons.
Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reported Seattle’s agreement with Garvin.
At the end of last season, coach Pete Carroll identified linebacker as one position where the Seahawks needed to improve. He said Seattle would try to do that through the draft, noting that none of the linebackers the Seahawks have developed over the last few years have been able to challenge starters Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright for playing time. Each played 97 percent of Seattle’s defensive snaps last season, for instance.
Seahawks 2017 free-agency tracker: Keep track of Seattle’s moves
Instead, Seattle has addressed that spot through free agency, first with Arthur Brown, then Wilhoite and now Garvin.
Wilhoite’s deal, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, includes an $800,000 salary, a $500,000 signing bonus and $250,000 in per-game active roster bonuses plus another $450,000 available in incentives. That’s a relatively substantial deal considering the minimum salary for a player of Wilhoite’s tenure is $775,000. That, and the fact that Wilhoite started 36 games over his five seasons with San Francisco, suggests the Seahawks view him as an option to replace Mike Morgan, an unrestricted free agent, as their starting strong-side linebacker.
Garvin, on the other hand, has primarily played special teams during his four NFL seasons. Undrafted out of West Virginia in 2013, he spent three years with Pittsburgh and played for Washington last season on a one-year deal worth $750,000. According to Pro Football Reference, he led the Steelers in special-teams snaps his first two seasons, he was sixth in 2015 when he played in only 12 games and he was second last season for the Redskins. The lone start of his career came as a rookie.
Garvin, 26, is listed at 6 feet 3 and 235 pounds.
He’s the 10th player the Seahawks have signed in free agency this year. The fact that three of them are linebackers doesn’t seem to bode well for Morgan’s chances of returning. He’s played the last two seasons on one-year deals worth $1 million apiece; Seattle has already signed Wilhoite for more and added two other linebackers.
The other linebackers on the Seahawks’ roster behind Wagner and Wright are Dewey McDonald, Kevin Pierre-Louis and Ronald Powell. Brock Coyle, a backup the last three seasons, signed with San Francisco after the Seahawks declined to tender him as a restricted free agent.