Category Archives: Contracts

Contracts, Free agency, History, X's & O's

Post-Super Bowl notes

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Frank ClarkYou have to be happy for Frank Clark, who has gone from tragedy to triumph over the past couple of years. Almost exactly two years ago, he sadly lost his father and other relatives in a Cleveland fire. Last year at this time, he said, “Let’s get this paperwork (i.e., contract) done so we (can) go on this hunt. I’m tired of the same results.” Well, the paperwork turned out to be trade papers and a new contract with the Chiefs, who gave him the $104 million Seattle would not. And then he got the different results he wanted by helping the Chiefs win Super Bowl LIV.

The lesson the Seahawks hopefully learned: It’s OK to pay a pass rusher top dollar. It might actually help you win a Super Bowl. They need to pay their top pass rusher, Jadeveon Clowney, this time.

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Contracts, The roster

Escalators shrink projected cap space

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Salary cap logoThe Seahawks lost a chunk of cap space this week as a few players got 2020 pay hikes.

Per OverTheCap.com, instead of a projected $63 million, the Hawks now are forecast to have $54 million (counting cap savings for Ed Dickson’s expected release). That would give Seattle more like $47 million for veterans between now and the start of the season.

The players whose cap numbers all went up include Tyler Lockett ($2 million), K.J. Wright ($1.5 million), Chris Carson ($1.4 million), Shaquill Griffin ($1.4 million), Tedric Thompson ($1.4 million), D.J. Fluker ($750,000) and Duane Brown ($250,000) — for a total of close to $9 million.

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Contracts, The roster

Hawks have replicated 2013 moves on D-line

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Schneider at 2019 combineIn May, we said the Seahawks needed to replicate their 2013 moves and find a way to add a couple of impact veteran pass rushers.

Four months later, they have achieved that goal — in spades (Jadeveon Clowney trumps Nick Perry).

John Schneider getting Clowney and Ziggy Ansah for a grand total of no more than $21.25 million is akin to his 2013 coup of signing Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril for $18 million (Avril signed for two years). And, if Clowney and Ansah play like Bennett and Avril did that year, the Hawks could be looking at their second Lombardi Trophy.

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Contracts, The roster

Why Brown was cut and could return

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Salary cap logo(UPDATED with new details Sunday morning)

When word first came down that Seattle had acquired Jadeveon Clowney from Houston for a couple of backup defenders and a third-round pick, it was almost exactly the cheap price we had predicted Seattle would have to pay if the teams made a deal.

But then came the added cost: Cutting starting receiver Jaron Brown and Cassius Marsh. The latter wasn’t a big surprise because Marsh was suddenly a superfluous player, with Clowney and Ziggy Ansah both capable of playing the LEO spot.

But Brown’s release certainly was a stunner — as it left Seattle with injured David Moore, inexperienced Malik Turner and three rookies behind Tyler Lockett.

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Contracts, The roster

No more big deals on Hawks’ horizon

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Salary cap logoBobby Wagner’s signing pretty much ends Seattle’s big-money deals for the foreseeable future. Now the Seahawks find themselves in wait-and-see mode, just like John Schneider and Pete Carroll’s early years in Seattle.

The Seahawks acquired and developed a lot of talent from 2010 to 2013 and were able to pay all of the top guys: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman, K.J. Wright, Russell Wilson, Wagner, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Doug Baldwin.

The Seahawks are still counting on Wilson, Wagner and Wright — all of whom got third contracts this year. But the team now needs to see which players, if any, become the next generation of stars in Carroll’s program.

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Contracts, The roster

Why Wagner and not Thomas & Clark?

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Training camp logo2The season is still over a month away, but the Seahawks already have tallied a bunch of W’s — Wilson, Wright and now Wagner.

With his $54 million deal, Bobby Wagner joined Russell Wilson ($140 million) and K.J. Wright ($15.5 million) as rare “keepers” for a Seattle club that has undergone some major changes over the past two offseasons.

The Seahawks were wise to hand third deals to all three W’s, but some wonder why they got paid and Earl Thomas and Frank Clark didn’t. Why pay a middle linebacker $18 million a year but refuse to pay your star safety and pass rusher, leaving you with no other established standouts on defense?

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Contracts, The roster, Training camp

Camp begins with the Wright stuff

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Training camp logo2One of the few recent feel-good moves by the Seahawks was the somewhat surprising re-signing of K.J. Wright, the longest-tenured Seahawk at eight years and counting.

The wise old vet disseminated some great wisdom and leadership on the first day of camp, offering some inside optimism about Bobby Wagner’s status, plus some level-headed logic about the Earl Thomas snit and some funny introspection.

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Contracts, Injury report, The roster

How long will Ansah, Wagner be out?

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Logo -- OTAsThe Seahawks do not expect Ziggy Ansah to be ready for the start of the season, and Bobby Wagner does expect to be the highest-paid linebacker by next year.

Those were the top two takeaways from the second day of Seattle’s OTAs, which are missing a number of guys recovering from surgeries and injuries.

Wagner, whose OTA activity consists only of coaching younger players, said he wants to surpass C.J. Mosley’s $17 million a year. “That’s the top (of the) linebacker market,” Wagner said. “That is the standard. And so that is the plan: To break that.”

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Contracts, Free agency

Hawks swapped stars for Ansah, so plenty of cap space left

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Salary cap logoIt’s obviously no coincidence that the Seahawks released stalwarts Doug Baldwin and Kam Chancellor the same day they came to an agreement with Ziggy Ansah.

As it turns out, they netted about $9 million in salary cap space, which — surprise! — is exactly what they reportedly are paying Ansah. (The cap savings probably will be more like $8 million once Baldwin claims his CBA-allowed $1.2 million injury payout.)

But the bottom line: The Seahawks still have about $25.5 million in cap space, minus what they paid new nickel competitor Jamar Taylor. Take away $3.3 million for rookie bonus proration and $1.3 million for the practice players, and that leaves around $21 million.

The Seahawks also have to earmark in-season injury replacement money — say $4 million — and Ansah’s unaccounted per-game bonuses, probably around $1 million (they count against the cap as earned). So that leaves about $16 million for free agents and possible extensions for Bobby Wagner and Jarran Reed.

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