NFL Free Agency 2019: 5 Mistakes the Seattle Seahawks must avoid
By Samuel Teets
Alienating Frank Clark
The Seahawks recently placed the franchise tag on Clark, but the team is pushing hard to get him signed to a long-term deal, and things look promising. Don’t count this as a win until Clark has signed on the dotted line, though. We’ve seen weirder situations where promising negotiations have broken down.
If everything goes as planned, the Seahawks will have their best pass rusher back for 2019 and beyond, which is good because the team will have to deal with Jarran Reed next offseason.
However, let’s say something goes wrong, and Clark decides not to play. Then what? Well, Seattle would really be out of luck and the defense would be nowhere near as effective. Reed was only as effective as he was in 2018 because Clark was drawing just as much attention on the edge. Outside of those two, the Seahawks had almost no pass rush at all. It was pretty much a two-man show. The team needs both of those pass rushers if they really want to get after the quarterback.
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We’ve seen how players don’t like playing under the tag. All Seattle needs to do is close the deal with Clark and there’s no need for any of this speculation or worry to continue. Clark finished with 13 sacks and 41 combined tackles in 2019, making him the team’s best pass rusher since the prime Cliff Avril/Michael Bennett years. At 25 years old, fans hope he’ll remain a centerpiece of the defense for the next half-decade or more.