Agent: Chance Warmack has 1-year deal with Seahawks, who still await Jadeveon Clowney
As they wait—and wait—for Jadeveon Clowney, the Seahawks are going through the NFL free-agent market as they usually do.
Down the short-term, bargain aisle.
The agent for Chance Warmack told The News Tribune Sunday afternoon the 10th-overall pick in the 2013 draft agreed to a contract with the Seahawks.
Agent Ron Slavin told the TNT the contract is for one year. It is likely to be at or just above the league veteran minimum salary. The new collective bargaining agreement the players just voted for says that pay for Warmack’s tenure is $910,000 for 2020.
Warmack is the fourth free-agent offensive lineman Seattle has added within the last week. The 28-year-old was out of the league last season following an injury-shortened 2018 with Philadelphia.
He is the seventh player among the top 16 picks in the 2013 draft Seattle has signed at some point over the last half dozen years. That 2013 draft was the one general manager John Schneider traded the Seahawks’ first-round choice in the deal to acquire wide receiver Percy Harvin from Minnesota.
So at least Schneider and his scouting staff are making use of their scouting for the top of that draft, after all, through a slow, seven-year drip.
Warmack started his first three seasons in the league at right guard for the Tennessee Titans, through 2015. He played in only two games for them in 2016, which ended for him on injured reserve. In his first season with the Eagles, their Super Bowl-winning one of 2017, he was a reserve left guard. He played in nine games as a back-up for Philadelphia in 2018, then for no one because of injury issues last year.
Nothing new Sunday on Clowney. The three-time Pro Bowl defensive end and Seattle’s top offseason priority to re-sign was still debating his options.
He has the Seahawks’ multi-year offer Sports Illustrated Corbin Smith has reported is at $18.5 million per year; that’s below the $20 million-plus he thought he’d get in free agency but no other team is offering. He has the option of signing a one-year contract for perhaps $13-15 million per season and trying the market again in 2021, when the salary cap will spike per the new CBA. If he wants to go that route, he is deciding whether his familiarity with and affinity for the Seahawks should keep him in Seattle.
The Seahawks are reaching a point of needing to move on the few other remaining pass rushers on the market, such as four-time Pro Bowl sack man Everson Griffen. He declared his exit from Minnesota Friday.
There’s a chance the Seahawks could re-sign Clowney and still make a bid for Griffen. To do that, they would need to clear cap space. They could do that relatively easily by releasing veteran backups Ed Dickson (for a cap savings of $3 million) and Tedric Thompson ($2.1 million).
But the longer Clowney contemplates, the more other teams can entice Griffen.
Warmack will have chances to compete for playing time in Seattle, possibly at both guard spots. The Seahawks have let Mike Iupati, their starting left guard last season, remain unsigned in free agency. Starting right guard D.J. Fluker is entering the final year of his contract. He has missed games because of injuries in each of his last three seasons.
Jamarco Jones started at guard last season for the first time in his life. Seattle drafted him in 2018 to eventually be a starting tackle. He was Ohio State’s starting left tackle for multiple years. Seattle’s current left tackle is Duane Brown. He is 35 and coming off a knee surgery last winter. He has this year and next remaining on his contract.
Jordan Simmons, a fill-in starter at guard in 2018 who spent 2019 on injured reserve, is currently unsigned The Seahawks did not tender him an offer as an exclusive-rights free agent, but could sign him back as an unrestricted free agent with the ability to pay him only when he is healthy (a “split contract.”)
Last week, the Seahawks signed B.J. Finney, who has primarily been a left guard for Pittsburgh but has also started at center. Finney got a contact worth up to $8 million for two years, which for Seattle is long term and suggests he will start at guard or center, if Justin Britt doesn’t recover well from reconstructive knee surgery or gets released to save $8 million in salary-cap space.
Britt has a hefty cap charge of more than $11 million for 2020, the third-highest on the team behind Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Brown, and ahead of Tyler Lockett.
Seattle also signed Cedric Ogbuehi, a former first-round pick and starter at tackle for Cincinnati. And the Seahawks signed former New York Jets right tackle Brandon Shell. Shell also got a two-year deal, for up to $11 million.
Germain Ifedi, the Seahawks’ right tackle the last four years, remains unsigned in his first attempt at free agency. Last spring Seattle declined to exercise Ifedi’s fifth-year contract option because it would have cost them $11 million for 2020.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
