Greg Olsen signed with the Seattle Seahawks on a one-year, $7 million deal on Tuesday, but before agreeing to join the Seahawks, the tight end strongly considered the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Olsen was released by the Carolina Panthers earlier this month. He is coming off of a 2019 campaign in which he played 14 games and caught 52 passes for 597 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and while that is a far cry from the production he posted during his best years with the Panthers, it still represented a solid bounce-back season after appearing in just 16 contests between 2017 and 2018 combined due to foot injuries.
The 34-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Miami, was originally selected by the Chicago Bears in the first round (31st pick overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft.
He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Bears, with his best year in Chicago coming in 2009 when he registered 60 catches for 612 yards and eight scores.
The Bears proceeded to trade Greg Olsen to the Panthers in July 2011, which was when his career really took off.
In his second season with Carolina in 2012, Olsen hauled in 69 receptions for 843 yards while reaching the end zone five times, and between 2014 and 2016, the Paterson, N.J. native made three straight Pro Bowl appearances courtesy of logging three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. Olsen topped out at 1,104 yards in 2015.
The Seahawks won 11 games and made it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs this past year, and by bringing in Olsen, they are filling a major hole at tight end.