Seattle Seahawks: 5 Biggest free agency decisions this offseason

How to keep Frank Clark

This isn’t an option. This isn’t a decision. The Seahawks must find a way to hold on to Clark. As long as he doesn’t ask for Aaron Donald level money, Seattle should ink the defensive end to a lucrative, long-term deal as soon as possible. If that doesn’t happen, then the team needs to franchise tag him. Whatever the Seahawks need to do to keep Clark, they should do it.

Clark just completed the fourth and final year of his rookie deal. Because he was drafted in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Clark has never made over $1 million in base salary in a single season. His four-year rookie deal was only worth $3,732,225 in base salary with a $974,346 signing bonus. Since he just had his most productive season yet, I’m guessing Clark will want to make up for lost cash with this next contract.

Last offseason, defensive ends Demarcus Lawrence and Ezekiel Ansah both were franchise tagged. Tagging these players cost their teams $17,143,000 in base salary. That’s an enormous one-year hit when you consider J.J. Watt only made $11 million in base salary this season. Clark has produced sack numbers similar to both Lawrence and Ansah, which means tagging him would cost in the same neighborhood, depending on what the tag is set as this year for defensive ends.

If we’re speaking of his production, Clark finished the 2018 season with 13 sacks, 27 quarterback hits, 41 combined tackles, one interception, three forced fumbles, and two passes defensed. He didn’t make the Pro Bowl outright, but he put up the sack numbers to warrant consideration. In just 33 career starts over his four seasons, Clark has recorded 35 sacks, 35 tackles for loss, and 72 quarterback hits.

Clark is the leader of the Seahawks defensive line, which looked like the strongest unit on the defense this season. It’s going to cost Seattle to keep Clark, but, based off of the last few years, it seems like he’ll be worth the money.