Seattle's Clemons holding out till he gets extension

by Ryan Ebert

Seattle Seahawks DE Chris Clemens has put up 100 tackles and 22 sacks in two seasons as a hybrid LB/DE in Pete Carroll's defense. He has a $4 million base salary for one season left on his contract, and is looking for an extension. Clemons has been skipping out of the team's offseason program including the mandatory minicamps, and forfeiting a $100,000 workout bonus in his contract.

The DE was offered a three-year extension worth $18 million, but Clemons turned it down and may remain in his hometown of Atlanta until he gets his extension.

While there is a source that says they did not get a formal rejection, it did say that they are continuing to negotiate.

"What I can share with you guys is that we've had dialogue with Chris and his agent," Schneider said. "It's all been positive. You know, he elected not to come to the camp, that's his prerogative. He's got a year left on his contract, he's very talented, he's a very important part of what we're doing. And we'll try to do what's in the best interest of the organization. I think the fans recognize that he's an important part of what we do on defense, and the 12th Man has really helped his game, too, in terms of being filled out at the stadium and allowing him to jump off the ball.

"Obviously we'd like to extend a number of different guys. We have several unrestricted free agents coming up that we'd like to start working on and he's a priority."

Clemons may have the leverage here since the Seahawks have been putting an emphasis on improving the pass rush this offseason. Seattle have invested in Jason Jones and first-rounder Bruce Irvin in hopes of improving the sack total 33 from last year. While $6 million per season to a player who has not played at this level before may be a reasonable offer, but it wouldn't be surprising to see if Seattle brings that number up to $7 million, which is what they are paying Red Bryant at the other end position.