The San Francisco 49ers agreed to ship Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a first round pick, a massive deal that gets Buckner out of the NFC West but has ramifications far beyond that for the Seattle Seahawks.
Buckner reportedly agreed to a massive contract extension with Indianapolis that will pay him $21 million dollars per year, making him the second highest paid interior defensive tackle in the NFL behind Aaron Donald of the Rams.
The early market reports were that star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney would command a contract that paid him between $18-20 million annually, a sum that many already felt would price the Seahawks out of his services.
Now, it seems almost certain that Clowney and his agent will use this Buckner contract as a baseline for what he needs in order to sign. The Seahawks don’t seem exceptionally likely to shell out over $21 million per year to bring back the star defensive end, even if they technically have the cap space to do so.
The team would also like to bring back defensive tackle Jarran Reed, who is hoping for more than $10 million annually and may get it now that Buckner is worth double that.
It was always a longshot that Seattle would retain both Reed and Clowney, but the Buckner deal makes that nearly impossible, and could leave Seattle empty-handed when all is said and done.
