Seahawks wanted last chance to match before Jadeveon Clowney signs. Are they getting it?
Way, WAY back at the NFL combine—so long ago the coronavirus pandemic was some other countries’ problems and everyday life in the U.S. was normal and free—John Schneider was asked a question.
Six and a half months later, the query suddenly has huge meaning.
The Seahawks general manager was asked asked if he would request that Jadeveon Clowney to give Seattle a chance to match another team’s offer before the three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher might sign elsewhere instead of returning to the Seahawks for 2020.
“Yeah,” Schneider said Feb. 25, “absolutely.”
Was absolutely happening Saturday night?
Just as Schneider and the Seahawks were officially announcing their final preseason cuts and their initial 53-man roster for the regular season Saturday, Clowney was reported as “expected” to sign with Tennessee Titans. That, after a long saga of free agency derailed by the pandemic. The news came from a report late in the afternoon from ESPN’s Dianna Russini, who said Clowney told Titans officials he planned on signing with that team.
Then, about a half hour later, NFL reporter Josina Anderson reported: “Jadeveon Clowney just told me he still has not made a decision. Teams are still calling.”
THAT’S leveraging.
Then, an hour after that, Russini wrote this: “Jadeveon Clowney has told Titans officials he plans to sign with them, per sources. He has also texted with his new teammates his enthusiasm for joining the team. Clowney is expected to travel to Nashville soon.”
It’s not like Clowney doesn’t have Schneider’s number.
The Seahawks traded two players and draft picks to Houston 12 months ago to acquire the 27-year former top overall choice in the NFL draft. He played through a core-muscle injury he got early in his most dominant game for Seattle, its win at previously undefeated San Francisco in mid-November. That was one of the more dominating performances by a Seahawks defensive lineman in years, and it renewed Schneider’s and coach Pete Carroll’s belief they needed Clowney for 2020 and beyond.
Then he missed three of the final five regular-season games. He ailed through two playoff games. He had surgery to repair a sports hernia in January. That and his previous injuries—he’s had just one complete regular season in his six years in the league—made teams want to see first-hand with medical examinations his worthiness for free-agent riches.
The Seahawks, who finished next to last in the league in 2019 with 28 sacks in 16 games, made Clowney their top offseason priority to sign. Coach Pete Carroll said so.
Then in March the COVID-19 virus shut down team facilities across the league, until late July. That’s how long Clowney waited to shop, while knowing Schneider’s and Seattle’s original, multiyear offer to him in March. It was less than the $20 million per year he’d been seeking at the start of this saga. By summer, a one-year deal seemed more likely, so he could try free agency again next spring.
His shopping intensified this week. The New Orleans Saints joined the Titans in making serious bids to him. The Baltimore Ravens were reportedly late interested participants. All the while, the Seahawks continued to wait for the market dampened by the pandemic and the NFL salary cap dropping by from $198 million this year to at least $175 million next year to come back to them.
Clowney has been dropping hints for months he’d really like to return to Seattle. Of course, money talks, but...
In January, the day after he played in the Seahawks’ season-ending loss at Green Bay in the NFC divisional playoffs, the defensive end walked upstairs in the team’s facility to Schneider’s office. He told the GM he wanted to stay with the team, and that he hoped the money would work out.
In May, he told television station KRIV in his hometown of Houston he hoped to “work something out” with the Seahawks to remain with them.
“You know, I hope we can work something out, if anything happens,” Clowney told Mark Berman, the sports director at Fox 26 in Houston. “I did like it up there. I love Russ (Russell Wilson). I love all the guys I played with. J. Reed, B. Jack, all them boys in my D (defensive-line) room.
“I respect them guys.”
“J. Reed” is Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed. “B. Jack” is defensive end Branden Jackson. They got tight with Clowney in the 4 1/2 months after the Seahawks traded with the Texans to acquire him.
“I loved Seattle when I was there this past year,” Clowney said again, on TV in Houston Tuesday. “I love everybody on that coaching staff. I wouldn’t trade those guys in (for anything).”
Then Saturday, the Titans apparently stepped up with the cash he would accept.
But then Clowney indicated the door wasn’t closed...perhaps on a final call he may have promised Schneider he’d make?
This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
