There are no villains in the Seahawks trade of Frank Clark

When a popular player is traded from your home team, people often take sides over who’s to blame. In the case of Frank Clark and the Seahawks, it’s no one.

I’m fairly certain you remember these names: Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas. Both were foundational players for the Seahawks. It’s no exaggeration to say without those two, there would be no Lombardi Trophy for Seattle. But eventually, both wanted more money than the Hawks were willing to pay. The players weren’t being greedy, nor was the team being cheap. Both the past and the team wanted to secure their future as they saw it.

Which brings us to Frank Clark and the trade. The standout defensive end initially seemed to be happy to wait for Seattle to give him a long-term deal, but changed his mind when the franchise tag was applied. This doesn’t make him a bad guy. It makes him a man who wants to ensure his future as best he can.

If there is a villain in the eyes of the 12s, it would be Frank Clark’s agent. All the way back in October of 2018, Erik Burkhardt said that both he and Clark weren’t in any rush to sign a deal. In fact, he said they were both comfortable with the franchise tag. As quoted by Brady Henderson for ESPN:

"“Frank and I are not scared of the franchise tag. That’s going to come in at about $18 million next year for a D-end on a one-year, fully guaranteed deal. It’s what Ansah and Lawrence have done. They get that top-of-the-market value for one year, and 12 months later will get their long-term deal as well. That’s winning.”"

I’d say something snarky here, that if Frank is happy, it’s his agent’s job to happy too, but that isn’t true. It’s the agent’s job to make sure he gets his client the deal that will ultimately make his client happy. This is why I don’t see Burkhardt as a villain, either. He doesn’t work for the Seahawks, he works for Clark. It’s his job to get Clark the best deal he can.

And that’s exactly what Burkhardt did. Clark made it clear he wanted to stay with the Seahawks. He also made it clear that more than anything, he wanted to secure his future. Clark now has a $105 million dollar deal in Kansas City, a deal I didn’t believe Seattle would be able to pull off. The Chiefs are on the rise with a great young quarterback. They also have one of the few fan bases that can rival the 12s.

We’ll certainly miss Number 55, and wish him all the best as he destroys AFC quarterbacks for the next few seasons. I’m pretty sure Russell Wilson isn’t too upset that the Seahawks just faced the Chiefs last year. I wouldn’t want Clark chasing me down either.