Looking for a veteran presence on the back end of the defense, the Seattle Seahawks signed former Green Bay safety Atari Bigby on Monday.
Bigby, who turns 30 next month, spent six seasons with the Packers, starting 33 career games.
However, recently he’s struggled to stay on the field, having not played a full season since 2007, missing 24 games over the past three seasons.
The Central Florida product missed nine games in 2008 with hamstring and ankle injuries, and three games in 2009 because of an injury to the same ankle that required surgery.
Bigby began 2010 on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list because of off-season ankle surgery, and played in only four games last season because of ankle, groin and hamstring injuries. But he notched one tackle in Green Bay’s Super Bowl win over Pittsburgh.
Bigby likely serves as a backup at strong safety for Kam Chancellor.
Up until the Bigby move, Chancellor was the oldest safety on the team at 23 years old. The Seahawks did not bring Lawyer Milloy back because the 37-year-old believes he’s still a starter in the league. The Seahawks also had interest in re-signing veteran Jordan Babineaux, but he signed with Tennessee instead because the Titans offered a chance to earn a starting job.
To make room for Bigby on the roster, Seattle released fullback Dorson Boyce, a University of Washington product.
Bigby is the oldest safety on Seattle’s roster, joining Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Mark LeGree, Jeron Johnson, Rickey Thenarse and Josh Pinkard.
The Seahawks also signed receiver Brandon Smith out of Arizona State, creating a spot on the 90-man roster by waiving tackle Caz Piurowski.
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