Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney reportedly lowers his asking price

Jadeveon Clowney has reportedly lowered his asking price in free agency. The Seahawks now just need to sign him.

We are now well into week 3 of free agency. Jadeveon Clowney reportedly has had very little interest generated. It now appears that Clowney is willing to accept a deal slightly below his original $21 million contract demand. Keep an eye in the coming days, Seahawks fans.

With the majority of teams all capped out after the first week of free agency, Jadeveon Clowney is left wondering what could have been if he finished the season healthy. At this point, Clowney believes he is a top tier edge player however, his market has said otherwise. It now appears he is simply looking to get paid with the uncertainty in the sports world due to the Coronavirus. Seahawks GM appears to have played this masterfully.

Reports have surfaced today that Clowney has lowered his per year asking price to $17-$18 million per year. This should be a welcome sight for Seahawks fans.  If Seattle can sign him to a 3-4 year deal at $17 million per season, they could minimize his cap hit just enough to be able to squeeze in another edge rusher.

What a proposed contract could look like.

Terms: 3 years, $51.75 million
Avg Salary: $17.25 million
Gt’d money: $40 million
Cap hits by year:

• 2020: $11.25
• 2021: $19.25
• 2022: $21.25

The next logical step would be to look at Seattle’s current cap situation. Cap space is the number you will find at Spotrac, however, “True Cap” is how much the Seahawks really have to spend after all other off-season activities are accounted for.

Cap space: $14.6 million
Draft pool: $6.6 million
Practice Squad: $2.2 million
Injury Reserve: $2.5 million
“True Cap” $3.3 million

It is clear, to make this work, additional moves will need to be had. When looking at the roster there are the 3 moves that make the most sense.

• Release Branden Jackson and recoup $2.1 million.
• Release Justin Britt and recoup $8.5 million.
• Restructure Russell Wilson‘s contract and recoup $12 million.

These moves would give the Seahawks $26 million in “true cap” before the Clowney signing and $15.8 million after. This is more than enough in cap space to make a run for Everson Griffen, who reportedly wants to play for the Seahawks. There should be enough left after that to be able to extend some key players like Shaquill Griffin, Quinton Dunbar, and Chris Carson.

A couple of quick notes about these 3 roster moves:

• Branden Jackson: I believe was likely tendered as a “just in case” scenario if Clowney left. He has familiarity with the organization and can fill in for Clowney, if need be. That being said, with Clowney potentially being re-signed, a $2.1 million price tag is too steep in my opinion for a player coming off the bench.
• Justin Britt: I suspect they may be waiting to release Justin Britt until May 1st. This would allow Britt to claim additional benefits under the current CBA such as better health and life insurance. It’s really just a classy way to release a player, they have done this with Cliff Avril, Kam Chancellor and Doug Baldwin already.
• Russell Wilson: How restructuring of contracts works, they convert base salary into bonuses. these bonuses are then prorated over the remainder of the contract. So in this case, $12 million of Wilson’s base salary for the 2020 season paid out in a fully guaranteed bonus. This $12 million bonus would then be prorated over the remainder of his 3-year contract in terms of cap hits. This would lower Russell’s 2020 cap hit from $31 million to $19 million while increasing the cap hit by $4 million for each of the next 3 seasons.

As you can see, cap space is very malleable. If Seattle needs to make room, they can. The Seahawks are not the only team pursuing Clowney. The Titans have been keeping an earmark on the free-agent DE. This is a situation worth monitoring as the Titans would fit into the contender category that Jadeveon Clowney is searching for.