John Schneider":1sb8qec3 said:
Everything was real cordial. he's a great guy, represented by a great guy. I go all the way back to Brett Favre [in Green Bay] with Bus his representative, Bus Cook. We've had great conversations. He just is going to kind of feel his way through this odd process, and we'll see where that goes.
I know fans are impatient, but one of the best long-term outcome for the Seahawks is that this drags on until restrictions are lifted, Clowney is able to fully explore the market, and he gets a long-term offer from some club that we then match for a small cap hit in 2020. This is all just business and it's jumping the gun to assume that feelings are getting hurt when I think everybody understands the reality of what is going on.
kf3339":1sb8qec3 said:
This may very well be true, but no one knows what offer they made to him at the start. Perhaps it was an average of $18M/year, or perhaps not. But right now we know they have taken that price off the market (if that was our number) or we would have already signed him. So my guess is they saw the market and lowered to $12-14M per, or a little higher.
The rumor about the $18.5m/year is in regards to a long-term contract. In a long-term deal the Hawks could easily back-load his deal and have no issue fitting him into the 2020 cap. That's what the Chiefs did for Frank Clark last year ($6.5m cap hit on $21m/year average deal). I think that offer is still on the table based on what we have heard from both sides so far, and could remain on the table for a very long time.
If Clowney feels that he could do better than his next option with the Seahawks is a short-term deal, where he gets a chance to hit free agency again for the big deal after the COVID crisis subsides, and he has hopefully stayed healthy and played well. This is the scenario where the $13m number is coming into play, as we can't spread the cap hit out and therefore would have to make some cuts now to even afford the $13m. That deal will probably come off the table before the long-term one does, depending on how the draft falls and whether we are prepared to make those cuts. The free agents we are signing instead of Clowney reduce the chance of this short-team deal option.
Looking at it from Clowney's perspective, it's perfectly reasonable to wait this out a bit. There's a good chance he can get a similar short-term deal from other teams and the Hawks have likely told him they may be willing to match. Should the restrictions lighten up in a month or two then he could potentially work out with other teams and have his market price go up again.
