The Seahawks made their first aggressive move of the off-season by acquiring star cornerback Quinton Dunbar from the Redskins. Seattle needs to keep this momentum going and make 3 more key moves.
The first Seahawks move is to stop playing games and re-sign Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney has made it known to the world that he has all intentions of waiting as long as it takes to get a contract he deems worthwhile.
The Seahawks are the only team that has a current physical on him. This is key, as he has an injury history and had sports hernia surgery after the season. With the NFL banning players traveling to team facilities, the Seahawks need to use this to their advantage.
To date, the contracts that Seattle has reportedly offered Clowney:
- The first was offered during the scouting combine: a 4-year contract worth $18.5 million per year.
- The second was offered two days after the NFL banned players traveling (March 15th): a 2-year contract worth $13.5 million per year.
Seattle has very limited cap space left, and they have several other moves that need to be made. It is imperative that the Seahawks bring back their top defensive lineman from last year. However, they cant just bring him back, they need this to be a 3- or 4-year contract to ensure they can maneuver the salary cap.
If that means they need to sweeten the deal, then do it. Clowney’s camp has reportedly been looking for the contract to be fully guaranteed. There is no chance Seattle will do that; however, they should be able to offer enough between yearly salary, incentives and guarantees to get the contract done.
The contract I have in mind will look like this:
Terms: 4 years, $77 million
Avg salary: $19.25 million
Guaranteed monies: $55 million
Cap hits by year
- 2020: $7 million
- 2021: $21 million
- 2022: $24 million
- 2023: $25 million
This will keep his year 1 cap hit relatively low. I would also offer several additional incentives to the contract that could help him reach his benchmark of $20 million per year. If he were to:
- Reach 8 sacks: $500k
- Reach 12 sacks: $750k
- Make the Pro-Bowl: $250k
- Make the All-Pro roster: $750k
This locks down Clowney for 4 more seasons, gives Seattle some stability and Clowney has an opportunity to reach his desired figure. It’s time to stop playing around, get this deal done.
The Seahawks need to get Clowney some help
Everson Griffin is still looking to find a home. I have a gut feeling he wants to play for Seattle and is waiting to see how the Clowney situation plays out.
Over the last 4 seasons, Griffen has averaged a pressure rate of 11.1% which is well above average for the NFL. Last season Griffen amassed 8 sacks, 40 QB hurries, 59 QB pressures and 3 tackles for a loss. These stats are nothing to sneeze at when searching for a second fiddle for Clowney.
I can’t see Griffen being unreasonably expensive to sign either. I think he wants to finish his career playing for his old coach at USC (Pete Carroll). Given his age (33 years old) I believe he will value some stability more than anything else.
My proposed contract:
Terms: 2 years, $17.5 million
Avg salary: $8.5 million
Guaranteed monies: $10 million
Cap hits by year
- 2020: $6.5 million
- 2021: $11 million
This move is absolutely imperative to the Seahawks off-season. Clowney can have all the talent in the world, however, if he is consistently double/triple teamed he stands no chance. By pairing him with a savvy veteran that plays with consistency and grit, this should be enough to unlock Clowney’s full potential.
Salary cap resolution
After the Clowney and Griffen deals, Seattle is roughly $16 million over the cap. Seattle needs about $12 million in cap space to fit their draft pool, practice squad and injury reserve monies. All in all, they need to clear roughly $28 million in cap space.
A key piece to note: The contracts for Luke Willson, Bruce Irvin and Chance Warmack have not yet been released. From what I have read, it sounds like Luke Willson and Chance Warmack are both veteran minimum contracts. I will be using $850,000 plugs for these two. Bruce Irvin will likely sign for a deal near where he signed last year. That will get him right around $4 million.
Cap space (start): -$16 million
Release Justin Britt $8.5 million
Release Ed Dickson $3 million
Release Tedric Thompson $2.1 million
Release Branden Jackson $2.1 million
Restructure Russell Wilson $13 million
Cap space (end): $12.7 million
Let’s break down these moves from the top:
B.J. Finney’s most natural position comes at the center. Seattle signed Finney to a 2-year, $8 million contract. It’s clear given the money, they view him as a starter. Justin Britt has the 4th largest cap hits amongst centers in 2020 and is coming off a serious injury. This is an unfortunate, yet necessary release to make.
Ed Dickson was always going to be released. Then Seattle signed Greg Olsen, and re-signed Jacob Hollister. This became a move pretty much written into stone. A tight end room consisting of Will Dissly, Greg Olsen and Jacob Hollister is more than enough to go into the regular season with. Ed Dickson is a foregone conclusion to be released.
Reports came out that Tedric Thompson received some mild trade interest last year around the trade deadline. Seattle elected to hold onto him. Unfortunately, he was injured just a couple weeks later, and he lost his starting job to Quandre Diggs. Recently, Seattle granted Thompson the opportunity to seek a trade, however, it’s unlikely anything will materialize due to the injury. I fully expect Thompson to be released in the next couple weeks.
Branden Jackson was re-signed as a restricted free agent just several days ago. This move was an insurance policy in case Seattle lost out on both Clowney and Griffen. In this scenario, both were signed, and Seattle could save the full $2.1 if Jackson were to be released. That is simply too much money tied to a reserve player.
The final move I made was to restructure Russell Wilson’s contract. I essentially converted his base salary for the 2020 NFL season into a signing bonus. This bonus will be allocated over the next 3 years of his deal in terms of salary cap hits.
As you can see, the salary cap is very malleable. While Seattle doesn’t presently have much cap space ($3 million in useable cap space). There is no reason to think they still can’t be aggressive in the market. Through savvy contract structuring, and roster cuts Seattle can turn their current salary cap of $3 million (after the Bruce Irvin, Cedric Ogbuehi, Brandon Shell, Chance Warmack and Luke Willson are taken into account) into Jadeveon Clowney, Everson Griffen and $12 million in cap space. This would be just enough to fund the draft pool, practice squad players and the injury reserve net.