It can be hard for a guard to stand out on a football field; that’s just the nature of the position. It’s particularly difficult when you happen to play on an offensive line alongside two future Hall of Famers.
But while Chris Gray might have at times been overlooked as a key member of the Mike Holmgren-era Seahawks, overshadowed by All-Pros Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson, he definitely was not unappreciated by his teammates and by those who closely followed the team.
Gray, who joined the Seahawks as a free agent signing in 1998 after spending four seasons in Miami and one in Chicago, was one of the unsung heroes of the Seattle teams in the 2000s that made five straight playoff appearances from 2003-07, winning four NFC West titles and one NFC championship. Gray, who began his Seattle career at center before finding a permanent home at right guard, started 145 games over his 10-year career in Seattle and appeared in 158, and he started all but one game over an eight-season span from 2000-07. Gray’s 121 consecutive games started from 1999-2006 were a franchise record when he retired, though it was later surpassed by Russell Wilson, who started 149 straight from 2012-21. In 2005, Gray, along with the rest of the offensive line, helped pave the way for Shaun Alexander’s MVP season as the Seahawks went 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
“Chris Gray is almost a forgotten man on that offensive front that went to the Super Bowl,” said Seahawks broadcaster and former receiver Steve Raible. “Unheralded though he was, maybe none more important, because he was one of those guards that could pull and lead Shaun out into that outside tackle gap on those sweeps. It was going to be a long day if you were going to play Chris, because he was going to be up in your grill the whole day. It was fun to have him a part of this team. On Sunday, he was the real deal.”
Gray’s career approximate value (a stat created by Pro Football reference that attempts to assign a statistical value to individual player seasons) of 71 ranks 21st in franchise history, and is second among offensive linemen behind only Hall of Fame tackle Walter Jones.
“The fact that maybe you didn’t hear a lot of about him spoke to what a good job he did during that era,” said Seattle Times Seahawks beat reporter Bob Condotta. “He just showed up every Sunday and did what needed to be done.”
