Seahawks do not apply May 5th tender to Jadeveon Clowney
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks might not have been able to franchise tag Jadeveon Clowney, but they also chose not to play an unrestricted free agent tender on him either.
As 12th man Rising’s seemingly daily update on what is happening, if anything, between the Seahawks and Jadeveon Clowney continues, we bring you yet another wrinkle that could have had Clowney play the 2020 season in Seattle. Only, the Seahawks chose not to use an unrestricted free agent tender, or May 5th tender, on Jadeveon Clowney.
Teams rarely use this tender as players are usually franchise-tagged or work out deals with teams. But on Monday the New York Giants decided they would apply the tender to defensive end Markus Golden, himself a potential Seahawks target in free agency. This means Golden can still negotiate with other teams but if he hasn’t signed with anyone by July 22nd, he has to play for the Giants next year.
Also, if Golden does sign with someone then the Giants could get a compensatory back for him leaving. This is a bit important when we are talking about the Seahawks and Jadeveon Clowney because there is a difference.
Seattle, due to signing players like Bruce Irvin, is unlikely to get a compensatory pick in next year’s draft even if Clowney leaves. Seattle will probably break even on free agent signings and since they aren’t losing more than they sign they are unlikely to get compensatory picks. Therefore, placing the UFA tag on Jadeveon Clowney was not going to do anything for Seattle in the 2021 draft.
Plus, there might be another reason the Seahawks did not May 5th Clowney. Doing so only means the player is going to make 10 percent more in the next year than he did in the previous one. Jadeveon Clowney is still trying to work out a contract with someone and being told he is only worth slightly more to the Seahawks in 2020 than he was in 2019 would be a bit of a slap in the face.
Seahawks may have upped offer to Jadeveon Clowney. dark. Next
The Seahawks still need pass rushers and Jadeveon Clowney knows this. But there might be a more hopeful reason, and this is just a guess, that the Seahawks did not apply the May 5th tender to Clowney. Maybe the team and the player are closer to working out a contract than most think and applying the tender is simply not needed.