Seahawks sign @mosesbread72 to multi-year extension. pic.twitter.com/DHv0yvfnBK
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) March 10, 2014
The Seahawks did what they had to.
It’s easy to forget just how crucial Michael Bennett was last year.
He’s not underrated, far from it. He’s interesting enough and high profile enough to never fly under the radar.
But he’s not Richard Sherman or Earl Thomas. Or Marshawn Lynch. Or Russell Wilson.
And if you’re not one of those four, there’s a perception Seattle can get by without.
It’s a terrible perception, because they couldn’t get by without Michael Bennett.
Not everyone on this roster is irreplaceable. In fact they’ll probably get the chance to prove that when Golden Tate, Clinton McDonald, Tony McDaniel, Steven Hauschka and Breno Giacomini hit the open market tomorrow.
Ideally you’d keep all five. But this isn’t an ideal world.
Bennett was a completely different kettle of fish.
They’ve been looking for this type of player for some time. Someone who can knit the pass rush together and make it truly effective.
Chris Clemons couldn’t do it on his own. For three years he tried.
Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett provided the help he needed. And with Clemons struggling to reach his very best aged 32 and coming off an ACL injury, the two new recruits helped take the defense to another level.
Bennett was pivotal to that.
With Clemons rushing the edge, the Seahawks were too one dimensional. It was only pressure from one side. Bruce Irvin provided some balance in 2012, but it wasn’t consistent. And there was nobody crashing the interior.
There aren’t many Michael Bennett’s in the NFL. Someone who can genuinely line up in the middle and not concede leverage against the run, yet can also play defensive end and round the edge with speed or power.
Suddenly they were attacking teams from all angles. It became very difficult to react to certain looks. Quarterbacks couldn’t just shift protection to the side Clemons was monitoring.
In the second half of the season and in particular the playoffs, Bennett and Avril combined repeatedly to attack one side with great success.
Seattle’s pass rush was legit for the first time in a long time.
How important was that? It meant the world. Finally the Seahawks could make the most of an uber-talented secondary. You can’t coverage-sack your way to domination. You need guys up front who flat out get after it.
Losing Bennett was comparable, in my opinion, to losing Richard Sherman at cornerback. Not necessarily devastating, but man what a gaping hole to fill.
There wasn’t anyone similar available in free agency. Guys like Jared Allen and Henry Melton just aren’t the same type of rusher.
The draft? No chance. This isn’t the year to try and replace your best pass rusher with a rookie. Not unless you own a top-five pick.
This was an absolutely vital signing.
Let’s put it this way. They might be able to replace Tate, Giacomini, McDonald, McDaniel and Hauschka and still make it back to the Super Bowl next year. There’d be a drop off, but c’est la vie.
I’m not sure they had any chance at replacing Bennett and the impact he’s had.
Yet again John Schneider pulls it off. He let a player take a check on his value and still got the deal done, despite heavy interest elsewhere (especially Chicago).
What’s more, it appears the Seahawks got a great deal. Mike Florio is reporting a $28.5m contract over four years.
Everson Griffen, with one career start, gets $8.5M/year with Vikings. Michael Bennett takes $7.125M/year to stay in Seattle.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 10, 2014
Two teams offered DE Michael Bennett more money but he opted to re-sign with SEA for 4 years, $28.5 million, including $10 million in 2014.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 10, 2014
That’s some outstanding negotiating on behalf of Schneider and the Seahawks front office.
It also goes to show how much Bennett enjoyed his year back in Seattle.
Clearly, he wanted to remain part of this team.
So what does it mean for the rest of free agency?
They might be able to structure the deal to limit the cap hit in year one (eg $4-5m cap hit).
Other big contracts will come off the books over the next couple of years, so it makes a degree of sense. With the overall cap also set to keep rising by about $10m a year until 2016, they might be able to maintain enough room to re-sign their other free agents.
I still expect Tate back with the team. He’ll get some interest elsewhere, but I suspect they’ll find a way to keep him — even if it does mean spending a little more than they originally intended.
We’ll have to wait and see what the market is for Clinton McDonald and Tony McDaniel. Both players, along with Breno Giacomini, are more likely to re-sign with the Seahawks the longer they remain unsigned.
I bet they’d love to retain Chris Clemons and keep their three-pronged pass rush together. Creating $7.5m in extra cap space will also be tempting.
At least with Bennett signed up they can feel better about cutting and attempting to re-sign Clemons to a cheaper deal. They could also look at a player like Jared Allen, depending on what interest he’s getting.
Would you be willing to swap Clemons for Allen on a $5-6m deal? It’d be a $1.5-2.5m total saving.
Alternatively they could use the $7.5m to re-sign the teams other free agents first, then re-assessing the situation afterwards with Clemons or anyone else.
They may even introduce Benson Mayowa into a more active role. There’s a reason why they red-shirted and protected him throughout last season, while other promising young players were cut and ultimately lost.
If the Seahawks can go into the draft having re-signed Bennett, Tate and Giacomini — they can feel very happy about their situation.
Essentially, the player they’re drafting at #32 won’t be replacing a key starter. It’ll give them an opportunity to add a Joel Bitonio to play left guard, or another receiver to add to their current group. Or, if the board is kind, yet another pass rusher.
Whatever happens, today is a good day for this team — and the first step towards making 2014 another Championship season.
**UPDATED**
It looks like Michael Bennett wasn’t the only player to re-sign with the Seahawks today…
TE Anthony McCoy has agreed to terms to stay in Seattle with the #Seahawks, per a league source.
— Rand Getlin (@Rand_Getlin) March 10, 2014
Since Illinois has a income tax of 5% this is essentially the same amount of money.
I’m sure this point was not lost on Bennett.
Crosses chest… prays… pretends to work… crosses fingers… prays… pretends to work…
Hell to the YEAH!!! We good now, yo!
8 Million is the perfect ammount to spend on him. i truly hope he will stay…
heard another factor is he REALLY likes Dan Quinn
Seahawks D Line ’14 has great odds to be even stronger than last year. Having Quinn back for another year is a big positive.
Cut Big James. Increase that cap space… Even if just a little.
You don’t have to do that unless you absolutely have to and at this point you don’t absolutely have to.
I suspect if Carpenter is cut, it’ll only be after the draft if they’re able to land a guy like Bitonio. What’s more likely IMO is Clemons is cut to save $7.5m and then either re-signed on a much smaller contract, or they replace him with a cheaper player.
i believe this too, they are waiting to get bennett deal done before they touch CC, as Bennett has impact on what to do with CC
I think they will keep Clemons and I hope sign Bennett. Clemons is a proven end. His sack count may not be as good but he has held his side of the line against the run and provided containment on passing downs. Now if it came down to one or the other, yes I would pick Bennett first. But we have plenty of cap room for both this year.
I expect he’ll either agree to a pay cut or be released this week. The team still has a lot to accomplish and will need that salary.
Why will they need the salary? We are well under now, and Clemons is only signed for one more year. Plus who will replace him? If you go free agent then we lose most of the savings. If you go rookie then it may or may not work.
Agreed. Clem has earned to see this through. One more year on rotation. One more ring. Then, beaches and sunshine.
They can extend ET3 with essentially his same cap number. I think they’ll want some cap space to extend Sherm.
Ian Rapoport @RapSheet · 4m
Cap room isn’t endless, & there was always a strong possibility #Seahawks would release Chris Clemons if they signed Bennett. In danger now
Earl re-up will not impact his cap number for 2014. It may even lower it.
Sherms, not so much. To be honest, I do not expect a Sherm extension.
I basically just said what you said Begaron. Apologies.
No worries, my friend. The extensions will be announced late in the offseason, probably right before camp.
Does Clemons hold value as a veteran presence? (is that even a real thing?)
Yes… and yes.
I think part of the reason Red Bryant was let go, beside the obvious, was that his leadership is now a bit less necessary.
We have a lot of young players coming into their own right now. Winning the super bowl is a major confidence boost to every young player that ever had a doubt about himself. Now we are pretty much a team full of leaders… so IMHO leadership isn’t going to go as far this year as it did in years previous.
When you see a guy like Maxwell out there playing so loose you’d think he was at practice… I mean… that nearly brings tears to my eyes. The kid punched the ball out in the superbowl and was the least surprised, least animated guy on the field. That’s a youngster playing with some confidence… and that’s most of our guys from what i’m seeing.
The Hawks had a chance to go after a few SB experienced guys 2 years ago, Woodson (not Winfield), a couple of DE were available that had SB experience Abraham and Umenyiora (not Bennett/Avril) but Seattle wasn’t interested.
I wondered if a vet or two would have helped them with the slow starts in Washington and Atlanta, but they didn’t address it (a vet who has been there) last off-season so that told me that they (and maybe others in football) don’t rate a veteran presence that too high. Then they pushed out M Rob, one of the leaders before the season started. While he was sick, I would of again thought if it was a big deal (vet/leader) they would have kept him on the roster.
Now, ask Kory points out, they have that expereince all over the roster now. No reaosn to think they consider veteran presence at all.
Not worth it, his cap number isn’t bad and they’d like to see what he could accomplish in a contract year when he can actually participate in the OTAs/training camp/preseason. If he drops a few pounds and adds a little more mobility to go with his brute strength, he could stick.
Cutting Clem and adding another vet is most likely a net loss. To save money, you would be hanging your hopes on a newly drafted guy or a former undrafted guy. Clem also scares the shiat out of people, which is nice.
This thread was in response to the original about saving 1.5 by cutting Carp. I don’t think that will happen.
Not sure cutting James Carpenter makes a whole lot of sense. It’ll only save about 1.4M. Figure you replace him with something costing 500k-1M? Not much point. Let it play out.
Rob – If this happens you will be the happiest Seahawk fan out there. I agree that his is integral to our defense at this point, and we need to do what it takes to keep him here.
If he costs $8mm a year, you are right – This would be up there with the Harvin move last year.
In Schneider we trust!!!
What are yo all talking about. This article is telling you Bennett is signed!
Some of the comments in this piece were referring to pre-confirmation of the deal. About 30 mins before the news broke, it was heavily rumoured. I wrote up a quick piece and rather than start a new thread just kept it in the same article.
Wow! I was counting him good as gone. If we can get him at $8-8.5, that would make my day!
Proof that PC is a desirable coach to play for. Bennet would possibly take less to play for PC than the offer that could help him to play with his brother. That is some big news!
If you count the differences in State Income taxes it’s essentially the same amount in MB’s pocket
Fantastic news
Go Hawks!!!!
I hope this works out – especially at the $8m per year. I also heard a great idea on the radio. For Russell Wilson or any of these guys, if you paid more of the contract as a signing bonus and guaranteed money, you could lessen the cap hit. For example, for RW do a 8 year $100m deal with a $50m signing bonus the signing bonus is prorated over the term of the contract. You could guarantee the first several years and basically pay him up front. You could end up with basically about $16m cap room per year instead of the $20m everyone else is getting.
It could result in dead money, but if you believe RW will play for a good 6 years, the numbers wouldn’t be that bad and you’d have cap space. Bird in the hand…
you cannot prorate more than 5 years according to new CBA. You can give a 8 year contract but the bonuses will be prorated over 5 years.
Okay good to know thanks
Curious if the signing bonus is better from a tax perspective. The federal tax on $10 million annual income is probably no higher than federal tax on 2.5 million x 4 years ( not a higher tax bracket). State tax isn’t an issue. If players avoid the game tax applied out-of-state by having a higher signing bonus and a lower game check, then that is a benefit.
Thoughts?
only game check are charged out of state taxes, where applicable.
so performance bonuses, signing bonus, roster bonus are all subject only to taxes in the state of employment (if state of residence is different, state taxes may apply there as well). NY wanted me to pay state and city tax on Washington State income when I earned in the second half of the year after I moved from NY to Seattle. Luckily, I moved before I had spent 180 days in NY, and my Washington income was not subject to taxation. Players who live in one state and work in Washington may have different rules regarding taxation on bonuses and such.
Washington itself has considered income tax on high income earners, so there may not be tax protection for our athletes much longer.
Thanks for the info.
Taking all the restraint I can muster to not do a happy dance.
8-m average? now THAT’s value.
A couple things that might sway Bennett:
1. Playing for a championship team.
2. He may get more money elsewhere, but how long will he last playing every defensive down?
3. Seattle has a nice atmosphere and good coaches.
4. Best defense in the league.
5. A four year contract is a long term commitment in todays market.
Going to point #2. He plays 63% of the defensive downs in a team rotation. So he is never totally worn down, and the defense does not rely exclusively on him being healthy. He can take time off to heal if he needs to.
Fourth years aren’t guaranteed, they are more for window dressing to make deals look bigger overall as well as extending the proration of the bonus (divide the signing bonus by the number of years for the cap hit).
I agree that fourth year (especially when it is a huge amount) is window dressing. What isn’t window dressing is the amount guaranteed. imagine this:
Chicago 3years x 10 million. 10 million guaranteed
Seattle 4 yearsx8 million. 16 million guaranteed
Which would you take?
Of course nothing is yet finalized but today’s news is much more in line with the way I saw this going down. Why would Chicago get out from under the Peppers deal just to take on another team hindering deal? Why would Bennett who has now been a key part of a legendary defense be excited to go back to an average defense?
I think his direction to his agent all along has been I want to go back to Seattle but let’s do the best we can on the contract. Chicago and the other Rosenhaus quotes are a means to that end.
Hey this deal is final. Look real hard at the picture at the top of this article. Bennett is signing his contract so this is a done deal.
Calling the Bears defense “average” is VERY generous. Only the Vikings D allowed more PPG last season. “Embarrassment” is probably more accurate than “average”.
4/$32m is a great deal–really hope this gets done today and we can breathe a sigh of relief to know Bennett will be back.
Wonder about the guarantee–I’d guess around the $20m Griffen got, comprising the signing bonus and first two years’ base salaries.
At $8mill/per would be an outright steal. I thought MB would at least net $10-$12mil/per.
If we resign Bennett, do we still look to add Jared Allen – which would probably involve cutting Clem?
Jared Allen has made an insane amount of money the past few years, and appears to only be looking to play for the championship. If you can sign him for $3 or $4 mil/yr, you do so regardless of who else you have, and add him to the rotation.
I would think so. You can safely approach Clemons about a restructure and save money to then throw at Allen. You can put a 2-year deal in front of Allen because Avril comes off the books in a year.
I’m not sure we’re even interested in adding him. Where would he play? From the looks of it, he plays a similar position as Avril.
I would think it kind of hurts that option. Obviously there is less money in the pot to sign him and the other players we have yet to sign. I don’t know how a dollar figure would factor in to Allen’s decision making. He’s already played his big money deal. I’d imagine we’d be in the 3m range which would be significantly lower than what we’d expect him to command. Clearly, we wouldn’t be his top offer. So even if we were interested — if money is a major component then I really doubt he’s in the picture.
Obviously this is great news if we can make it happen. With the higher cap and Eversen’s signing, I was figuring that Bennett may be able to get closer to $9m per year. However, being 2 years younger in this league will compensate for some of the differences in the stats.
I would still look at an Urban or Tuitt in the first round if either is available. They both strike me as Bennett types physically, and can play that role of a strong end or sliding in on passing downs. Finding good pass rushers is incredibly hard, as we have discovered over the years. We will also need to find some replacements for three of the oldest guys on our defense.
As for Allen, I would give him a long look for $5m or less per year. If you look at his stats, his floor is the same as Clemons and Avril’s highest years. I would also think having him play a true DE or even LEO role would only help.
Any word on Golden and Breno?
Do you know when Urban’s pro-day is? I just have a feeling this guys body type is going to destroy his stock. He is a narrow-framed guy. I looks a bit like Jesse Williams. Those types of bodies do not do well in the NFL.
March 17th Virginia pro day.
Just heard on 710 that Bennett has resigned with Hawks!!!!!!
Great news!
It’s a done deal. Strike up the music.
“Can confirm Seattle retains DL Michael Bennett in a deal worth just over $8M/year. Bears were all-in on him as well” – @JasonLaCanfora
BOOOOOOOM!
Watch for the spike in 72 jerseys!
Please keep Clem and Miller. NASCAR for one more year.
Re:Clemons, if they are going to keep him, I think it’s unlikely he will be cut and resigned. If we cut him, there is a 2 million and changes dead cap charge plus what we would pay him on top. If we look at recent DE in the early 30’s hitting free agency ie Umenyora or Abraham, he will likely go for between 3-4 million a year. If you cut him and then sign him to a 4 million/yr deal, you essentially signed him for 6 million in the first year which is too much. If you extend his current deal by one year (restructure) you avoid the dead cap and have him for two years and ~9 million while still being able to cut him next year if necessary.
Good plan. Though I wouldn’t want to cut Clemons until a rookie proved he could replace him.
You can’t get rid of that dead money by restructuring him. and you can’t restructure it into another year.
in other words, you can chalk up that dead money to cap space right now. whatever salary you pay him, before or after cutting or restructuring is added to the dead money for total cap charge.
4 years 34 mil! Steal! JS is a wizard!
Awesome news.
… and the band played on ….
Does the state income tax (of lack of it) affect Rosenhaus’s commission? I suspect it does not, since the commission would be based on Bennett’s pre-tax number, and Rosenhaus’s income tax probably wouldn’t have anything to do with whether his client’s income was coming from Washington, Illinois or anywhere else.
If that’s the case, then although Bennett would might be aware that there’s a tax advantage to playing in Washington, Rosenhaus would still be motivated to push him toward the higher total salary regardless of Bennett’s tax situation.
But this is still very encouraging! After reading about Griffen’s deal yesterday, I thought it was going to take a least $10 million/year to sign Bennett. If we can keep him for less than that, I’ll consider it a win.
Yes! Brilliant news, wonder what this means for Chris Clemons, a restructured contract maybe?
Mike Florio says the contract is for 4 years/$28.5M and that there were at least two teams offering more.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/10/bennett-turned-down-more-money-from-two-other-teams/
Excellent news! Step 1 of the Win Forever 2014 offseason plan is complete. Now on to Step 2 – Golden Tate.
“Oh, you happy now mutha*&^?”
— Marcellus Wallace
Wow, complete shock he seemed to take less money after his Costco comment. Seattle has truly become a destination location. This is not a guy who has been paid a ton of money throughout his career. This is only “Big” contract, and while the numbers are not small, it still is impressive that we could bring him back under any sort of discount. Great job by JS on this one. Makes you wonder who else might be wanting to come take a discount to play for the organization.
Per Florio “Bennett will make $28.5 million over four years. He gets $10 million in 2014, $16 million through the first two years, and $21 million over three.”
That’s 10, 6, 5, 7.5 in his final.
Such a healthy deal.
16 million is guaranteed .
What if this just becomes a utopic team. Everyone takes paycuts to play for a winner and they just keep winning. Russell takes a 9 mil average. We just win most of the next couple super bowls.
Utopian* I guess.’
I want to see Pete Carroll take a pay cut, just to prove he’s no better than anyone else in that building.
Or give the first year of his new deal to charity. I mean, that would be truly legendary.
Since PC’s paycheck does not affect the salary cap, I could not care less how much he gets paid. As far as “proving he’s no better than anyone else in that building”… What does this even mean? He is not even close to the highest paid person in the organization.
And THAT’s why the front office never entertained the idea of franchising Bennett.
$13M for one year franchise tag OR
Only $16M guaranteed over first 2 years (and years 3 + 4 not guaranteed)
Yep, but we weren’t to know that 24 hours ago when he was being heavily linked with Chicago and the idea of a $28.5m contract appeared fanciful.
All we can do is discuss the situation and have a debate. The only people who know the exact situation are the players, agents and F.O. staff. But that shouldn’t stop us having a debate about things. Covering the Seahawks would be pretty dull if we didn’t even debate certain situations through fear of questioning the front office.
Agree — not trying to knock your earlier post. Just rejoicing the fact that, even when we doubt our F.O.’s moves, more often than not they get it right…
When we saw how much Everson Griffen got, I think we all expected the worst.
Anyways, on an unrelated note, there was almost a 0% chance we signed Everson Griffen even if he offered to play for the minimum – let’s just say he would’ve had to change/mature a lot since his USC days for Pete to want him on the team…
I think you nailed it on Griffen.
Still a debate topic does this make Bennett satisfied? Is his effort going going gone? Does this “low” signing have anything to do with his shoulder “injury”?
I think he signed for the market value. And his effort will be just fine, as per usual.
The report is that Bennett had higher offers. So he signed with us for slightly less than his market value.
The main thing is that he’s happy with the deal. We’re happy, he’s happy…. it’s all good.
That is part of the quality that this organization possesses. They generally go the extra mile to be fair in these scenarios. Bennett came here and signed as an audition of sorts. We have an earned reputation for showcasing players for that purpose and allowing them to maximize their earning potential on a free market.
Sometimes, it’s going to bite us and we’ll lose guys. But when you have that reputation, it has value going forward. Other players in future years can see this team as a legitimate way to leverage their earning potential without us pulling one over on them because we can.
Bennett was allowed to do exactly what he aimed to do. And in the end, I expect the relative transparency that this organization has in regards to living up to our end of the bargain appeals to players at a real level.
Whether it’s by our willingness to allow players to maximize their show me deals, or by our FO’s willingness to strike fair draft trade bargains or by our willingness (demand really) that players be their own persona — this is an organization for whom reputation matters. It’s something easily lost if you let it be. But for Seattle — they safeguard that in so many tangible ways.
The organization is a hot destination spot and it’s due in large part to how this organization treats it’s players, even when such treatment is detrimental to the club’s fortunes. They take the long view and accept that there will be short term costs. But the long term benefits ultimately mean more.
Very interesting perspective Attyla. Schneider’s comment right after the Super Bowl about how Seattle had terrific free agents interested in joining last year that they had to say “no” to rings in my head. That’s likely compounded after the Super Bowl win.
His brother Martellus signed his “big deal” last offseason, then went out and put up a career high in catches, yards and TD’s. I would be very surprised if not giving a full effort was even in his DNA.
Also, we have to factor in the rest of the team. Ostensibly, it’s a lot easier to let up on the effort when you’re playing for the Raiders or Browns, as opposed to the defending world champs. The defending world champs who are coached by the most energetic human being on the planet, lead by the hardest working QB in the league, and who field the best defense of a generation? Forget about it. If Bennett wasn’t going to bring it every day, he would have gone elsewhere.
Are other players as invest-y as the Seahawks? It seems like our players are very fiscally responsible.
Brilliant news, I was always pretty optimistic as both Bennett and the Seahawks wanted the same thing, but I admit the Chicago story had me very worried. You obviously want all our guys to stay, but I think of all our free agents Bennett is the only truly irreplaceable one. He was a huge reason the defense became elite last year (which it definitely wasn’t in 2012).
Leading the league in points category is elite defense. (2012)
Top 3 defensive teams in any given year should be considered elite. Were they in consideration for greatest ever? Heck no. Last year? The question can be asked..
This signing really gives us a chance to be absolutely dominant next year. Im so excited!
In the second half of the season they were far from elite, no matter what the stats say
Happy news!
I don’t think it was lost on Bennett after being in TB, what a fantastic organization Seattle is. They do take good care of their players and it is stable.
I like Clem, but he’s paid too much! If Bennett is taking $7m – Clem needs to take a pay cut. Same thing with Zach – they are being paid too much for their contribution on the field.
I am looking forward to seeing what some of the young guys can do – Benson M should be better this year.
I would suggest Clem is paid just right. Pass rusher who can set the edge, and is a true warrior. Cutting Clem results in a 2M cap hit. Add a veteran DE for 5M, and whammo!!! you have saved nothing, alienated your team, lost a core NASCAR player who also plays the run.
Now, could we restructure his cap hit in 2014 into a bonus and eat 2M in 2015… now there is something that may happen.
Very good news!!
Next, re-sign Steven Hauschka and McDaniel. Priority
… and McDonald & Giacomini with good deals.
Rob,
I really like Mayowa. I trust him. A lot.
You think we could pick Marcus Smith in 2rd or 4rd? He is a seahawk.
I like Smith. If he’s there in R4 I’d like that value.
You think you will be there? Or Demarcus Lawrence
Lawrence and Smith are solid third rounders for me. But you never know, one or both could drop a little.
Totally….
Your question about Allen or Clemons…
Give me Allen
I’m dreaming of Bennett, Avril, Allen pass rush. That’s one for the ages.
If you can get Allen on a two year deal at 5-6mm per, I think you do it.
#dominating
Allen is staying in Minnesota per ESPN….
Actually I think the report is that Allen isn’t staying in Minnesota. It was confirmed yesterday he won’t be staying with the Vikes.
Details, details….
Straight up, no cap number, no price, in a hypothetical world you get to pick either Clemons or Allen this year. Who do you want and why?
Clemons knows the system and fits better, honestly. Jared Allen might’ve been a Michael Bennett 3tech candidate because it’s almost always single blocks.
clemons ! first reason is continuity. next he was coming on later in the year and playoffs. lastly clemons has an edge about him and plays like it. I remember Sherman tellin a story of how when clemons came back to the first practice Sherman said welcome back clemons response shut up man! I want that guy on my team. next year he will be fully back and u can expect 10-12 sacks. I like allen but keepin the boys together is more important then a couple more sacks from allen. we can handle the cap hit this year and next year he will be gone, then mayowa can take over with a little more experience under his belt.
Clemons played last year after only 9 months of rehab. He should be much better this year. I see them restructuring his deal. $9.7 million is too much for 2014. The will offer him $1 million in added signing bonus and split his deal into two years giving him and extra year. They could sweeten it with performance incentives. Clem is one of our guys. How they treat him coming off the injury is going to be important to the mood in the locker room.
The Seahawks can sign Jared Allen for $3 or 4 mil/yr. Just pay him enough to keep it respectable, he only wants to win a ring. This is the perfect situation for him…. surrounded by other talent, no double teams, only needing to play 25 snaps a game, the clear Super Bowl favorite.
great job boys! now just resign mcdaniels, steven h. and we will be fine. the hawks front office is great. its nice to not worry anymore in the offseason. I just know the will make the right decisions! go hawks!!!
one more thought, keep clemons- forget allen. oh and one more thing I saw on espn that his contract goes like this: 2014 10m
2015 4.5
2016 5
2017 7.5
That explains a little more to why he chose the Seahawks. He is getting paid according to what he is likely to produce. By front loading the contract, it not only helps the Seahawks with Sherman/Thomas/Wilson extensions, but it also assures Bennett that he is truly going to make most, if not all, of the money he is signing for. How common is it for big back loaded contracts to never materialize when a player gets cut? Seems like there are a ton of deals where there is backloaded salary and everyone knows the player will never see that last year or two of salary. If Bennett stays decently effective, he will have a great shot to be playing through 2017.
IMO, the structure of the contract doesn’t mean much to the player. They are looking at one number, at that is guaranteed dollars. Which number falls in which year is largely irrelevant from the player’s perspective.
That’s not true. The Gauranteed money is very important, but it’s not the only important factor. Mrpeapants point was that when you structure the deal like the Hawks have, frontloaded, when year 3 comes around, the cap hit is small, so the Hawks will most likely keep Bennett at least for the 3rd year if not the 4th.
Assume that the cap hit in year 3 and 4 was 10m and 12m, instead of 5m and 7.5m. Even if you have the same gauranteed money and same overall contract for all 4 years, if it is frontloaded it creates a higher likelyhood that the team will not cut the player on the backend of the deal. So he will end up making all the money in the contract instead of just the gauranteed money.
quick correction –
2015 – 6 not 4.5
I know the next jersey I’m getting! My respect for him was high, now it’s right at the top with Russ.
I love me some 12th man. Right on Micheal!!!! He originated in Renton as did Costco.
LOL!!!!
Welcome back Big Homeless!!
Now he can let that beard get all shaggy and raggedy again! Congratulations to Michael Bennett for working his ass off to become another Seahawks UFA success story! I could not create a better Seahawks fantasy then what Paul Allen, John Schneider and Pete Carroll have created and continue to generate! Great momentum for getting our other FA’s inked…who would want to leave for extra $$$ when we are playing for Lombardi, legacy and GOAT!!!
Anthony McCoy has also re-signed with the team.
Cool!!!
I really like that. Was really hoping he would come back. May not be a Zach Miller blocker but he can block and is a faster target.
Solid move, he can be a big play guy.
great move McCoy is a winner! any news on terms? cant wait to watch him high step goin in motion again! go hawks
Great news. We can move on from discussing TE’s now. There is so much other talent to be had. No need to waste a pick on a TE. Maybe one in the 7th… but not really necessary.
No RB, no TE, no QB needed this draft.
Knew the Griffin signing wouldn’t effect Bennett. Great deal and another reason why JS is the best in the buisness.
Money aside, who would be the better player for the Hawks at DE next season?
Chris Clemons or Jared Allen?
Great news on McCoy too!
Clemons, he knows the system and is great at holding down the end. Allen can join us for 1 million veteran pay if he wants a ring!!!
Hahahah
Peppers to Sea? Makes a lot of sense- he’s old but we like to rotate our dline lots keeping him fresher (pro peppers) and playing fewer downs equals less money (pro hawks), peppers gets a chance to get a ring (pro everybody)….we’re also the google of football; a fun place to work (pro peppers). Who’s better at this point between the 2 aging stars: Allen or Peppers. I don’t watch the Bears or the Vikes. One of the old dudes could rotate with Mayowa….or that old dude could be Clem. I wish Clem would stay after a salary reduction of 2 mil.
Allen by some stretch IMO.
It looks like Steve Smith might be getting cut might be a nice plan B if Tates price is to much PFT is saying Tate might be 5year/35mil market.
That could work out of CAR. His market might be real slow. That could mean they’ve been talking to Tate already… He’s always reminded me of Steve Smith.
CAR is super cap straped but that would free up 7 mil which would could help them in short term but they have so much money in there DEs 26mil and have to sign Luke and Cam to extensions going forward probably will sign short term deal with Hicks and draft Benjamin/Beckham.
Hate to lose Tate but Kearse does a lot of similar things, and I can’t see this team without Baldwin and his clutch catches.
Man am I glad MB is back. Gives them a chance to find the future leo now if they cut Clem. Without MB, there’d be no chance to do that.
Kearse doesn’t defeat the press well enough to play X. I guess we could put Harvin there and force them to play off. I see Kearse as a #4. He doesn’t do any one thing exceptionally well. Except block. Tate is also so much more agile. He’s a scat back with hops and body control. It’d be a significant downgrade.
If tate isn’t resigned I’m all aboard the marquise lee train. I’m convinced he’s going to be a stud (if healthy).
I really like his game. Competitive as they come.
I know it’s a downgrade, but you have no receivers on the roster who can separate as well as Baldwin, so if I had my choice of losing one of the two, I’d rather lose Tate.
OT a tad but who does everyone think will sign away from Seattle now all things considering? Or has Bennett set a precedence and will start taking deals for the “team” longetivity?
If another team gives Tate 6 million/year, or Breno Giac. 6 million/ year, or one of our other defensive linemen 4 million year – they might go. It’s got to be at least 30% better then what Seattle offers.
Peppers is probably a little long in the tooth to bring to Seattle. Outside of any surprises, Jared Allen is pretty much all that is out there for defensive ends of any intrigue. A guy I think could be interesting is Randy Starks. If you can’t get a Jared Allen do you take a look at Starts at say 3 year, 12 million? You know John and Pete are targeting value in free agent class(if we make many moves at all). The player nearing 30 or just over is where the value will be.
I’d like for us to keep Miller and Clem, re-sign Hauschka and McDonald. Jordan Hill or Scruggs could replace McDaniel. Breno could be cut and replaced by Bowie, sign Bitonio/Su’a-Filo and keep Carp as backup. Let McQ walk. Tate’s twitter sounds like hes getting a lot of attention from other teams, 50/50 we keep him or sign someone like Marqise Lee, Jordan Matthews or Jeff Janis. Chris Matthews Lockette and Kearse suffice as “tall” receiver to replace Rice, so why not get a fast good receiver?
Breno is not under contract so no need to cut him.
Astute observation, sir.
I think we’ll need to fill that other DE spot. We have one returning run down starter. That’s looking like it could be the new biggest need if McDaniel doesn’t resign.
Course. we don’t know what the FO thinks of the depth. Next man up?
That other d spot should now be Mayowa’s spot. Resigning MB I bet means releasing/restricting Clemons/ cut and resigned cheaply so Mayowa gets the start. If he fails a little we have Irvin or avril. Love Clemons but he is 34 making 9.5…
Sorry. I think of Seahawks personnel like a 3-4 defense. I was considering the 3tech a DE. But if he doesn’t resign, then there are two huge holes in our starting dline. Michael Bennett could start, but we want a rotation. Maybe cutting Red is also shows trust in Williams/Scruggs.
Wouldn’t it be funny if TJAX got a starting gig somewhere? Maybe sitting behind Russell a few years taught him some things.
The Colts should sign Lamarr Woodley.
If Willie Young isn’t snagged up by Thursday I think we kick the tires on him as possible LEO. Not hearing much on him.
Rumors are that Denver is interested in Allen.
Well, they figured out what a real pass rush can do for you 😉 all Denver superbowl jokes aside. An Allen/miller combo could be pretty lethal.
Jags DE Jason Babin voided his last 2 yrs of his contract and is now a FA? Any thoughts of him in Seattle?
34 yrs old.
Just so freaking happy the hawks got this deal done.
Also, wow Rob. Every article has over 100 comments. Nice to see your work get so many readers, comparing to a few years ago. Good job!
Seriously!