Seahawks release DE Chris Clemons, free up cap room for new possibilities

Nine-year veteran Chris Clemons is no longer a member of Seattle's defense. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) The Seattle Seahawks had already released receiver

Doug Farrar | Mar 12, 2014

Seahawks release DE Chris Clemons, free up cap room for new possibilities /

Nine-year veteran Chris Clemons is no longer a member of Seattle's defense. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

The Seattle Seahawks had already released receiver Sidney Rice and defensive end Red Bryant in cap-cutting moves to prepare for the 2014 free agency wave and re-signed defensive lineman Michael Bennett with some of that money. And now, in a fairly predictable move, general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll have released defensive end Chris Clemons, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network.

The move comes after a 2013 season in which Clemons was relegated to a situational role and his impact on the defense diminished due to age (32) and various injuries. He had at least 11 sacks in every season for Seattle from 2010 through 2012 and was one of the Carroll/Schneider regime's smartest early pickups -- they traded a fourth-round pick and end Darryl Tapp to the Philadelphia Eagles for his services. But Clemons played in just 14 games last year, starting 11, and racked up just 4.5 quarterback takedowns. He suffered a torn ACL in the 2012 playoffs and was never quite the same.

Seattle signed Clemons to a new contract in 2012, and the financial repercussions were severe for 2014 -- his release frees up over $7 million in cap space for a Seahawks team looking to make more moves to fortify its already formidable defensive line, and he would have counted for $9.667 million on the 2014 cap had Seattle kept him.

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So, with Clemons out of the picture, the Seahawks have cast a wide net and arranged talks with two other high-profile veterans -- former Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and ex-Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher. Both are free agents, and Allen is set to talk to the Bears as well. Hatcher will speak with several teams.

Published Mar 12, 2014

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.