Jadeveon Clowney turned down lucrative offer from Seahawks early in free agency

Jadeveon Clowney settled on the Titans, but money wasn’t his primary objective

Clowney will fit well in Nashville, where he gets to play for Mike Vrabel, his former position coach with the Houston Texans. The former No. 1 overall pick will earn as much as $15 million on his one-year deal in hopes of resetting his market on a prove-it deal. Ironically enough, he could’ve received that same contract (minus a few months of unsuccessful haggling) had he simply agreed to stay in Seattle.

Per Brady Henderson, ESPN’s Seahawks writer, “My understanding on Jadeveon Clowney and the Seahawks based on what I’ve been told over the last few days and months: Clowney turned down $15M from Seattle months ago. That’s the max value of his deal with Tennessee.”

Why didn’t Clowney take the Seahawks up on their offer?

Clowney thought he was worth more than $15 million. This wasn’t helped by the Browns, who reportedly offered Clowney as much as $17 million, only to be used like a pawn by his agent. Cleveland had an excessive amount of cap space to spend this offseason, while Seattle was relatively limited. As free agency went on and the Seahawks improved their roster in other ways, they pulled their original offer to Clowney and decreased it. Like most teams, the Seahawks were offering Clowney anywhere from $12 million-$14 million. That wasn’t enough for his liking.

Without adding Clowney, the Seahawks biggest question mark heading into the season is now their defensive line. As Henderson points out, Darnell Taylor is still sidelined, and despite the team’s supposed confidence in the unit as constructed, they’re still relatively unproven.

Time will tell if haggling from both sides costs either a chance at greatness.