Did Seahawks make a late offer to Jadeveon Clowney? Well...‘We were in it the whole time’
Jadeveon Clowney didn’t like the Seahawks’ multiple offers, short- and long-term, in March.
That stuck into September.
Coach Pete Carroll gave that assessment Monday of how the three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher who played for Seattle in 2019 is playing for the Tennessee Titans instead of the Seahawks in 2020.
“I talked to him throughout the process, and stayed with him. We had good, amicable conversations about things. He was just waiting, the whole time,” Carroll said, after his team that still REALLY needs pass rushers completed its first practice of the regular season.
“He had his sights set really high to start with, and it just put him in a situation where he had to wait it out. And he didn’t get near the amount that he wanted, as it turned out. Our offers and stuff early on didn’t look attractive to him, because he had his mind set elsewhere.
“So, you know,” Carroll said, shrugging, “it was a pretty normal process. But he just wasn’t ready to make a call early on.”
Asked whether the Seahawks and general manager John Schneider did or did not make a final, increased offer to Clowney this past weekend—after Clowney reportedly had Saints coach in his hometown of Houston with him for dinner then the Titans got him to agree to a one-year, $12 million contract that with bonuses to reach $15 million—Carroll was vague.
The Seahawks kept listening and staying in touch instead of making a final, formal offer to keep him.
“We were in it the whole time. We were with him the whole time in the discussion,” Carroll said.
“There was a switch of agents right there near the end and all of that. And we were, really, John was in on all of it.”
Clowney ultimately chose the Titans, in the AFC South where he played from 2014-18, and for coach Mike Vrabel. Tennesee’s head coach was Clowney’s linebackers coach then his defensive coordinator in 2017 in Houston.
So ended what became a saga, a drawn-out attempt by Clowney to leverage multiple offers to drive his price more toward the $20 million per year he sought as free agency was opening in March. That was less than two months after he had surgery to repair a sports hernia. Once the coronavirus pandemic shut down NFL team facilities and free agent’s ability to get physical exams from team doctors in mid-March, Clowney waited into August for the chance to prove medically he was worthy of offers that could leverage what Seattle had offered him in early March.
“It was a long offseason in terms of trying to figure it out and know how that was going to work out,” Carroll said. “We were involved throughout. But, yet, we moved on, you know, for the most part well early in the offseason so we could do the rest of the team. ...
“He’s a terrific player, and should be a good addition for them.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
