The Seahawks officially cut ties with highly drafted defensive lineman Malik McDowell this past March. Now, they want a refund.
According to The Detroit News' Matt Charboneau, the Seahawks have sued McDowell as they attempt to recover $799,238 of his $1,599,238 signing bonus. In late February, an arbitrator ruled that McDowell needed to pay the Seahawks the portion of his signing bonus he'd already received because he violated his contract when he was injured in an ATV accident. That injury prevented McDowell, the 35th overall pick out of Michigan State in 2017, from ever taking the field with the Seahawks. According to the suit, McDowell has yet to return the money.
The Seahawks were expected to cut McDowell a year ago, but the team didn't officially do so until this past March, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. McDowell is now free to sign elsewhere, provided he can be cleared by a team's doctors, something the Seahawks' medical staff declined to do.
"The doctors wouldn't let him play," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in March, per Yahoo Sports. "He had an accident, he was injured and he couldn't play."
At the time, McDowell's agent Drew Rosenhaus said that independent doctors have cleared his client, who is seeking to join another team, possibly the Cowboys.
"His doctors believe he's ready to go," Rosenhaus said. "We've got experts that are saying he will be cleared. So hopefully he will be able to continue his career, possibly [in Dallas]. He has been cleared independently. But the Seahawks tried their best to work with him and unfortunately they didn't feel he could continue to play."
Carroll didn't sound convinced.
"Drew said that?" Carroll said. "Dr. Drew. That makes sense now."
As for the Cowboys, who hosted McDowell for a visit in March, they sound interested in signing McDowell, but they're also wary of the injury problem.
"The biggest question with him, is the medical question -- making sure we're comfortable with that," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "As a young player, there's some uncertainty about him because he hasn't played, but when you go back to the evaluation coming out of school, you say boy, there was a lot to like about him. We're just in the process of trying to find out more about him."
At Michigan State for three seasons, McDowell recorded 7.5 sacks, 24.5 tackles for a loss, an interception, two forced fumbles, and 50 solo tackles. Entering the 2017 NFL Draft, McDowell was considered by many to to be a possible first-round talent. At the time, NFL.com's Lance Zierlein compared him to Ezekiel Ansah. The Seahawks wanted him to be their Michael Bennett replacement. There's no doubting his potential. It wouldn't be a bad buy-low kind of signing for the Cowboys, who are dealing with another Randy Gregory suspension and a shoulder injury to Demarcus Lawrence.
So far, an injury has robbed McDowell of a chance to cash in on his potential. But he's still only 22 years old. So, if he can get medically cleared by a team, he could still have time to develop into the player he was supposed to become. As of now, that remains a huge if.
