QB Reilly signs with Seahawks
Former Flathead High School quarterback Mike Reilly was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, hours after he was released by the St. Louis Rams.
Reilly was one of three Ram players cut and one of four players signed by the Seahawks.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pounder originally signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers following the 2009 draft. He participated in the Steelers minicamp and summer camp, but was cut before the season started.
Reilly, 25, will wear No. 13 with the Seahawks. He will compete with Mike Teel, a second year pro from Rutgers, Charlie Whitehurst, a five-year pro from Clemson the team acquired in an offseason trade with San Diego, and incumbent Matt Hasselbeck, a 12-year veteran from Boston College. Hasselbeck is a nine-year starter for the Seahawks.
Reilly enjoyed a record-setting career at Central Washington, where he broke numerous career passing (12,448 yards and 64.1 completion percentage) and touchdown (116) records held by Jon Kitna, who had a 14-year career in the NFL.
Kitna originally signed with Seattle in 1997. He also played with the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions.
Like Reilly, Kitna was not drafted.
Former Philadelphia Eagles QB and current ESPN football analyst Ron Jaworski has said numerous times that Reilly has the skills to compete at the NFL level.
Reilly was the only Division II quarterback to receive in invitation from the NFL Combine in 2009. According to Van Ram on Turf Show Times, the most interesting cut is Reilly. Like last year's sixth round pick, QB Keith Null, Reilly was a small school standout who put up some impressive numbers at Central Washington. He was undrafted last year, though some thought he could have been an mid-round pick, before signing with the Steelers, then bouncing over to the Packers before finding a home on the Rams' practice squad in December.
Reilly had plenty of folks who talked up his potential, and he could find a home somewhere else.
The Rams had no use for a developmental project at QB, having just drafted Sam Bradford with the first pick in the draft and Keith Null still being a work-in-progress himself.