But when coaches and scouts and front office guys get together and have to cut to the real core of the matter, decisions on personnel often come down to a far more fundamental and simplistic question: Can we win with this guy?

Seahawks guard Chris Gray is a timely example. The big defensive tackles sometimes manhandled him. The quick ones sometimes beat him through the gap. So, he was slated to be replaced just about every offseason.

But when the season opened, Gray was always in the starting lineup, giving his best effort and staying healthy … or at least being better able to ignore the injuries that benched so many others.

And if you had to make one truly relevant point about his career, it should stand as a high compliment to say that he’s been a guy the Seahawks could win with for most of the past 11 years.

Monday, he announced his retirement, a move forced by a back injury sustained early in training camp while he was hitting a blocking sled. It was an anticlimactic career-ender for a man who set a team record for durability by starting 121 consecutive regular-season games between 1999 and the final game of 2006.

And it says a great deal about Gray’s profile that the first formal, sit-down press conference of his career was Monday, and it was to announce his retirement during his 16th training camp.

“I was told Saturday that I basically had a pretty serious low-back injury, a spine injury,” Gray said. “(Doctors) told me that if I was going to play again there was a risk of seriously hurting my back … possible paralysis. That’s something I couldn’t do, so, basically, I had to agree with them and call it a career.”

Gray was drafted out of Auburn by Miami (fifth round) in 1993. He came to Seattle in 1999 and started seeing duty at center when Kevin Glover was injured. When Robbie Tobeck was acquired to play center, Gray merely moved over a spot and took over at right guard.

Along the way, he bounced back from the sort of microfracture knee surgery that ended the careers of a number of players.

He finally missed a start at Tampa in the final game of the 2006 season, but returned to play in both postseason games that followed.

“I’ve been fortunate to play 15 years,” Gray said. “I’ve been one of those guys wherever I’ve been, they’ve always drafted somebody bigger and faster and stronger. But I’ve always been a guy who prided myself on not missing practice. I’ve always played through injuries, played through pain, and always prided myself on knowing what to do and getting things right.”

No discussion of Gray’s anatomy is complete without mentioning the nose. Gray’s nose appears to have a knuckle imbedded about halfway down, serving as a visible testament to his willingness to put his face in harm’s way for so many seasons. He said he might even consider getting it fixed now that he’s not going to be running into people on a daily basis.

Gray, 38, has known retirement was hurrying toward him. But when he felt a twinge in his lower back, he assumed he’d rehab for a week or so and be back in the lineup.

In fact, with starting center Chris Spencer out with an injury, Gray might have improbably ended up in the starting lineup again this season.

But when the doctors called him in Saturday, “it was pretty harsh,” he said. The tingling he felt in his legs was the sign that this was more than a tight muscle. It was a warning.

He thought, then, of wife Julie and kids Grace and Matthew.

Retirement was the only option.

Chris Gray always gave the game – and the people who played it right – the proper respect. In one game against San Francisco a few years back, the Niners’ gifted defensive tackle Bryant Young was a nightmare for Gray to block.

Young was a guy who combined talent and high-effort. When he went down with a knee injury, Gray and linemates Robbie Tobeck and Steve Hutchinson hurried over to Young to offer assistance.

It showed a lot of class.

Gray was never the distributor of colorful quotes, but he did a fine job keeping it light on Monday in what had to be a difficult time meeting the press.

And when he was asked to evaluate the career, he nailed the most important thing.

“I’m not the biggest, fastest, strongest guy,” he said. “But 95 percent of the time, I got the job done. We went to a Super Bowl with me, and we had a lot of success.”

He was a guy they could win with.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440

dave.boling@thenewstribune.com