The Seattle Seahawks have officially signed seven of their eight draft picks after getting second-round selection Bud Clark to ink his deal. If Clark were a first-round choice or a sixth-round choice, the deal wouldn't have been difficult. The second-round status made it slightly so.
First-rounders now expect to have their first four years to be fully guaranteed. Second-round choices are beginning to get that way, but those guarantees have not yet reached pick 64, which was where Cark was taken. Of course, Clark's agent would know that the ever-growing pressure teams feel to fully guarantee a second-round draft pick's first contract.
That likely led to general manager John Schneider and his money people to get creative in having Clark sign his deal. Every draft selection is slotted, but with a maximum amount of money. The particulars are where things can get weird. The signing bonus and amount guaranteed come into play.
Seattle Seahawks get creative to entice Bud Clark to sign his contract
Clark's total $7.878 million deal breaks down this way, according to Aaron Wilson of Houston's KPRC 2:
- 2026: Fully guaranteed
- 2027: Fully guaranteed
- 2028: $1.152 million guaranteed
- 69.44 of entire deal fully guaranteed
- $2,198,000 signing bonus
Someone got mathy, and it likely wasn't Bud Clark's agent. What he wanted was a fully guaranteed deal, of course, because if the safety gets paid, so does the agent. There was no way Clark wasn't going to sign because the amount was already known about how much he would make.
Also, it does him no good to not sign his deal, because it's not like he can go back to college and be re-drafted in 2027. He was going to be a member of the Seahawks organization sooner rather than later, and the only issue was how much of his first contract would be guaranteed.
But who can truly blame Clark for wanting all four years of the contract guaranteed? He knows how much he can make potentially, and the hope is that he meets expectations, becomes the ball-hawking defensive back the Seattle Seahawks think he can be, and he earns every cent.
But any human being, knowing how much money is available, wants to know they will have that for sure. Bills have to be paid, and families have to be raised. Having financial security simply makes sense. Bud Clark knew he would make millions when drafted in the second round. Now he knows how many of those millions he will definitely get. The rest, he will find a way to receive.
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