| TwistedChief |
04-23-2019 05:32 PM |
Discussion from The Athletic (plug for them: it's a wonderful source of content and totally worth a subscription):
Quote:
CONNOR HUGHES: The Jets were interested in acquiring Clark, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The team hasn’t had a dominant edge rusher since trading John Abraham to the Falcons in 2006. The issue? They didn’t have the means to get a deal done. The Jets called, but Seahawks told them they wanted the No. 3 pick. New York wasn’t willing to do that unless Seattle included its first-round selection (No. 21 overall). Seattle quickly shot that down. They wanted to add a first rounder, not improve their draft positioning. The Chiefs offer allowed them to do that. The Jets, without a second-round pick this year, couldn’t match.
NATE TAYLOR: The Seahawks needed additional draft picks, and the Chiefs were one of the few teams who had the assets to get a deal done, but Kansas City needs to be right about Clark for this deal to really work for both teams. It’s clear the Chiefs believe they are getting an upgrade over Dee Ford, whom the team traded to the San Francisco 49ers earlier this offseason. Clark is entering the prime of his career, and the Chiefs will need him to be a dominant player to remain a top contender in the AFC and potentially win the Super Bowl. Some people will question the Chiefs surrendering the 29th overall pick, but the team clearly believes Clark will be of the best pass rushers in the league for years to come. The best scenario for the Chiefs is Clark having great production over the next three to four seasons for the team to maximize its chances of winning a Super Bowl with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the league’s reigning MVP.
SETH KEYSOR: The Chiefs are clearly looking to revamp their disastrous 2018 defense, and they’ve pretty much done it in one offseason. They’ve completely altered their approach up front by adding Clark in addition to Alex Okafor, both more traditional 4-3 ends with size and power. The cost was big, both in the form of trade compensation and the contract, but if the Chiefs are right about Clark as a top-end level edge defender against both the pass and the run) then it’ll be worth it for a team that was held back by a defense that did not come through once last season.
MICHAEL-SHAWN DUGAR: The Seahawks were never going to pay Clark $100 million. They could have but never planned on it. With only four draft picks, it made sense for Seattle to explore all possible avenues to acquire more selections. No one on the roster was going to net them a first-round pick and more aside from Russell Wilson. The key to roster construction is draft and develop, and paying lucrative extensions to non-quarterbacks doesn’t always factor into the plan.
The issue with the Clark deal from Seattle’s perspective is it puts pressure on the team to find immediate pass-rush production. Having two first-round picks will theoretically make that task a bit easier, but it’s not as if this team has a strong history of nailing early-round picks. Ask around town about Seattle’s last two first-round picks — right tackle Germain Ifedi (2016) and running back Rashaad Penny (2018) — and you won’t hear overwhelmingly positive responses (you probably won’t hear any good responses about Ifedi, to be honest). Throw in Seattle’s disastrous top pick from the 2017 draft, Malik McDowell, and you’ve got a team that hasn’t hit on its first draft selection since taking Clark 63rd overall in 2015.
BEN BALDWIN: Clark is a very good player. But while he has consistently produced sacks, his underlying numbers — such as ESPN’s Pass Rush Win Rate or pressure percentage — do not place him with the league’s elite, raising concerns about paying him at the top of the market. Given the situation, getting first- and second-round picks from a Chiefs team desperate to add talent is a huge win. An already middling defense lost one of its few players capable of producing splash plays, but given the other holes on the roster, the potential to add cheap talent could pay off in the long run.
SAMUEL GOLD: It’s OK for Seahawks fans to have mixed feelings about this deal. Trading Clark will create a definite void in the Seahawks’ defense. Seattle already needed edge help going into the 2019 NFL Draft, and this will only make that need greater. However, I think the Seahawks made the right decision. They can use the draft picks and cap space to rebuild the defense much more economically now that Russell Wilson has re-signed. The extra cap space should allow them to re-sign defensive leader Bobby Wagner, with ease. I liked Clark a lot as a player, and his strength, speed and effort will all be missed, but this is the correct decision for the future of the franchise.
LINDSAY JONES: From a purely football perspective, this move makes a ton of sense for the Chiefs, no matter how steep the price they paid to get Clark. (And let’s be clear, Kansas City gave up a lot in draft capital in addition to what will be an extremely lucrative long-term contract for Clark). Right now the Chiefs have the luxury to pay a premium for an elite defensive player. I was skeptical about the Chiefs’ plans in March when they moved on from both Justin Houston (cut) and Dee Ford (traded to San Francisco) because even though Patrick Mahomes should give the Chiefs an edge in most games, with the ability to frequently score at least 30 points, the Chiefs needed to find a way to maximize this window when their franchise quarterback was on an affordable contract.
As a football player, Clark is worth it. He is the rare defensive end who is equally strong against the run (this makes him a superior fit for a 4-3 defense than Ford,) and he is as good a pure edge rusher as there is in the NFL. Still, this move carries some risk for the Chiefs given Clark’s 2014 arrest on a domestic violence charge and a 2017 incident in which he punched a teammate during a training camp practice. The Chiefs are no strangers to taking on players with character concerns, but given the franchise’s recent history with Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs better be sure Clark won’t be a liability off the field.
SHEIL KAPADIA: Once the Seahawks decided they were not going to pay up to keep Clark long term, they had two options: have him play under the franchise tag or trade him. They opted for the latter and did great in terms of compensation. One key to building around an expensive quarterback is to pile up draft picks and get a lot of swings to acquire young, inexpensive players. This move helps GM John Schneider do that. As for the Chiefs, Andy Reid has always viewed defensive end as a premium position. In the last two seasons, Clark has produced a sack or QB hit on 9.84 percent of his pass-rush opportunities, per SportRadar. That ranks fourth league-wide. There’s no doubt that Kansas City is giving up a lot, but I don’t have a huge issue with them rolling the dice and being aggressive. Clark is an elite pass rusher who will be 26 at the start of next season and has missed just two games in four seasons.
JAY GLAZER: Clark fits what the Chiefs are trying to do scheme-wise way better than Dee Ford did. The Seahawks had talks with teams for a while on him, including the Jets. This is an incredibly deep draft for pass rushers to find another one who they don’t have to pay such a huge figure to this year.
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