As of Monday, conditions improve for Seahawks, NFL teams to sign unrestricted free agents
The conditions are changing for NFL teams to sign free agents.
As of Monday, 1 p.m., any unrestricted free agent that signs with a new team will not count towards the formula the NFL will use to determine 2021 compensatory draft picks.
In theory, that should lead to an uptick in the market for those still unsigned. Such, as, oh, I don’t know...Jadeveon Clowney.
For years, the Seahawks and general manager John Schneider have manage their signings and letting veterans leave into free agency while strongly considering the effects those deals will have on their compensatory draft choices the following year.
This past weekend, two of Seattle’s eight draft choices were compensatory picks from a net loss in free agents in 2019: running back DeeJay Dallas from Miami at the end of round four and sixth-round pick Freddie Swain, the wide receiver from Florida who will get a chance to lessen Tyler Lockett’s load as the team’s punt returner.
The Seahawks saw in last year’s draft what happens when they sign more qualifying free agents than they lose. That happened in 2018. Because of that and trades, Seattle began the 2019 draft with just four picks. That would have been the fewest in the league and fewest in team history, if Schneider had not traded his way into a total of 11 picks in last year’s draft instead.
Monday’s change to signings counting in the 2021 comp-pick formula, plus two moves the Seahawks made Sunday, suggest a renewed push to re-sign Clowney or sign another veteran pass rusher they need, such as Everson Griffen—or both.
Seattle is releasing starting center Justin Britt and starting guard D.J. Fluker. Cutting those veterans will save Seattle $12.18 million in salary cap space for 2020. The more than $22.7 million the Seahawks now available under the cap is more than double the room they had at the conclusion of the NFL draft Saturday.
Neither Britt nor Fluker had a contract-bonus deadline or financial dates to force the savings now. That gives at least the appearance they released the veteran blockers from a surplus of offensive linemen now to move on earnestly to the issue that if not solved will keep them from the Super Bowl again: the pass rush.
The can make another run at re-signing Clowney, or in making offers on other veteran free agents still unsigned. Those include former Minnesota Vikings captain Everson Griffin.
The Seahawks say the “door’s not closed” on bringing back Clowney. He remains unsigned after not accepting the team’s offer last month. It was believed to be for four years and up to $18.5 million.
“We don’t shut the door on anything really,” Schneider said Saturday on an online Zoom call from his home and makeshift draft center.
Miami was the only NFL team with fewer sacks last season than Seattle’s 28 in 16 regular-season games. That’s a huge reason the team finished 26th in total defense, which in turn was why the Seahawks again did not have home playoff games last postseason. Home playoff games are coach Pete Carroll’s stated key to the Seahawks returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since Super Bowl 49 ended the 2014 season.
“We really did look at the issue of we weren’t happy with the production of our pressure that we put on last year. And so we went after it,” Carroll said after the Seahawks selected the two rush ends plus Texas Tech linebacker Jordyn Brooks with their first-round pick Thursday among their eight picks in the 2020 NFL draft.
“We’ve addressed an issue and now we have to make it come to life. It doesn’t mean anything except, how does it work?” Carroll said.
“We have really clear intentions.”
Those intentions began in earnest more than a month ago with the team’s multiyear contract offer to Clowney. It was believed to be for four years at up to $18.5 million per year.
But the former first-overall pick in the draft and three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher was seeking $20 million or more per year in his first chance at free agency.
So he remains unsigned. No team wants to pay Clowney what wants, not after surgery in January to repair a sports hernia that kept him out of three of Seattle’s final five regular-season games in 2019. He played both of the Seahawks’ playoff games injured. The shuttering of team headquarters and the league prohibiting free agents from traveling have kept Clowney from being able to go to doctors of other teams to take physical exams.
Schneider said this week “the door’s not closed” on re-signing Clowney. The GM reiterated that on Saturday, even after it became obvious through the draft the Seahawks are moving on.
They have to.
“We don’t shut the door on anything really,” Schneider said on an online Zoom call from his home and makeshift draft center.
“Basically, with Clowney, I’ll just put it out there: he did a great job for us. He was amazing this past year. We were in negotiations with his agent for a long time, and at some point, you need to move on and keep conducting business. It’s not Jadeveon’s fault. It’s nobody’s fault.
“You have to keep moving, or your going to get beat.”
