Seahawks saga with Malik McDowell seemingly never ends

The Seahawks issues with Malik McDowell never seem to go away. On Wednesday, Seattle sued McDowell to try to get his signing bonus back.

The Seahawks have had problems with Malik McDowell almost since they drafted him in 2017 in the second round. In July of the same year McDowell was injured in an ATV accident and has never played a down in the NFL. Most likely, he never will.

Seattle waived McDowell with a non-football injury designation. This was after Seattle took a chance on McDowell in taking him in the first place. A lot of teams stayed away from the physically gifted – at least, prior to injury – because of McDowell’s lack of motor on the football field and oddness of the interviews he gave during the NFL Combine. Seattle should have stayed away from the defensive tackle too, as it turns out.

On Wednesday, according to Sports Illustrated, Seattle sued McDowell in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan. McDowell has yet to pay back $799,238 of his $1.6 million signing bonus that Seattle gave him. The Seahawks also withheld McDowell’s salary of $800,000 for 2018.

Drew Rosenhaus, McDowell’s agent, says that McDowell has been cleared to play by independent doctors. Of course, we all know people can be hired to say whatever a person wants them to say and McDowell is younger enough to still make some money. That is, if a team chooses to take a chance on him.

But here is the thing, no team should take a chance on McDowell. I am making no judgments about his character as I do not know him personally. But he has not been reliable since Seattle took him in the 2017 draft. There is no reason to think he will change in the future. And now the Seahawks want their money back.