It’s a fairly slow Sunday night in NFL circles, but a rumor making the rounds has gotten our attention.
There’s chatter on the NFL grapevine of a potential trade that would send Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark to a new team.
Jay Glazer recently wrote in a Q&A column for TheAthletic.com that trade talk regarding Clark has died down. Still, as of Sunday night, there are indications that something could be happening.
That something could be tied directly to the effort to sign quarterback Russell Wilson to a long-term deal. With $17.128 million in cap space devoted to Clark, the Seahawks could free up plenty of money for signing Wilson, whose cap number for 2019 currently sits at $25.286 million — and who has $8.286 million paid out in prior years counting against this year’s cap.
Per a league source, several teams called the Seahawks about trading for Clark last year, and they called again before 2019 free agency. The Seahawks now have to decide whether to get what they can for Clark, or to keep him for 16 more games at more than $1 million per week.
Before a trade could happen, Clark would have to sign the franchise tender. Which means that, as a practical matter, he’d have to be on board with the trade — because he could easily block it by refusing to put his name on the dotted line.