In the wake of the news Monday that the Seattle Seahawks are considering releasing 2017 second round pick Malik McDowell, I have had multiple fans both online and offline ask me whether the team could go after his signing bonus. The simple answer to that question is both yes and no.
To explain how that is the case, we’ll turn to the collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”).
The relevant portion of the CBA is Article 4, Section 9(a)(iii), which is the bolded portion of the following.
(a) Forfeitable Breach. Any player who (i) willfully fails to report, practice or play with the result that the player’s ability to fully participate and contribute to the team is substantially undermined (for example, without limitation, holding out or leaving the squad absent a showing of extreme personal hardship); or (ii) is unavailable to the team due to conduct by him that results in his incarceration; or (iii) is unavailable to the team due to a nonfootball injury that resulted from a material breach of Paragraph 3 of his NFL Player Contract; or (iv) voluntarily retires (collectively, any “Forfeitable Breach”) may be required to forfeit signing bonus, roster bonus, option bonus and/or reporting bonus, and no other Salary, for each League Year in which a Forfeitable Breach occurs (collectively, “Forfeitable Salary Allocations”), as set forth below:
Now, to determine whether McDowell committed a forfeitable breach, we must turn to Paragraph 3 of the NFL Player Contract.