The NFL free agent period starts March 11 and now another name is on the list, as the Seattle Seahawks released wide receiver Sidney Rice and now he will be on the market and could draw attention from a number of teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, NY Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
Rice was a solid and productive player during his time with the Seahawks, but he constantly dealt with injuries and that came to a head last season when he was injured in October and tore his ACL, knocking him out for the second half of the schedule and the playoffs. Rice missed out on the Super Bowl run, but he was a big part leading up to it and his injury set the stage for Golden Tate, Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin to step up for Russell Wilson.
Rice is coming off of a season when he had 15 catches for 231 yards and three touchdowns and this comes after he previously signed a five-year, $41 million contract back in 2011. This could be the first of many moves as Seattle tries to get things going after their Super Bowl win, as they have a number of free agents to retain. Rice but up decent numbers during his time in Seattle, but like his time in Minnesota, it was marred by injuries.
Rice made the Pro Bowl in 2009 after making 83 catches with 1,312 receiving yards and eight TDs for the Vikings, but he never had that impact in Seattle. He played in all 16 games just once and that was last season and predictably that was hit best there, making 50 catches for 748 yards and seven scores. In his other two seasons he played in nine and eight games respectively and had just five touchdowns and just over 50 catches in that span.
Rice tore his ACL in a game against the Rams and now teams in need of a deep threat could go after him, but if he asks for too much money, he could sit on the market behind bigger name dudes like Hakeem Nicks, Eric Decker and James Jones.
