Clinton McDonald signs his RFA tender; Tony McDaniel acquisition officially announced

Seahawks DT Clinton McDonald has signed his restricted free agency tender with the team and will make $1.323M this year, provided he makes the final roster. The 6'2, 297 pound 5th-year pro came to the Seahawks via the Bengals in 2011, a product of the Kelly Jennings trade, and has played a role on the defensive line rotation, primarily as a nickel sub-package pass rusher.

The Seahawks seemed pretty apathetic with regards to keeping McDonald - assigning him an original (7th) round tender at $1.3M and waiting it out. This meant that another team could come in and throw McDonald a better offer sheet, and if Seattle decided not to match that, they'd see a 7th round pick in return. With the cold free agent market this offseason, the odds of that happening were pretty low from the get go, particularly for a rotational player like McDonald. He saw 297 defensive snaps in 2012 - just 29% of the team's total - and only Greg Scruggs, Jaye Howard, and Hebron Fangupo saw fewer plays on the year. He recorded 25 tackles and a pass defensed in 14 games.

McDonald is a tad undersized at 297, but because of this he moves very well - one of the original reasons I believe the Seahawks had a specific interest in him as a pass rusher. He's a bit of a liability against the run because he's not especially effective in his anchor, but he's active and gives a high effort when on the field both against the run and rushing the passer. My guess is he'll face competition from any incoming draft picks at the defensive tackle position, but if the Draft doesn't play out in the Seahawks favor at that position, he'll be good insurance. McDonald can rush from the interior 3-technique position and can also back up Brandon Mebane in a pinch.

Also, the Seahawks finally officially announced the Tony McDaniel signing.