KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs acquired pass rusher Frank Clark from the Seattle Seahawks for a package of picks Tuesday, then quickly agreed with him on a $105 million, five-year contract as they overhaul their much-maligned defense.
The Chiefs sent the No. 29 overall pick in this year's draft and a second-round pick in 2020 to Seattle, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke about the trade terms and contract details on condition of anonymity because they were pending a physical.
Clark planned to head to Kansas City to complete that in the next 48 hours.
The trade, first reported by the NFL Network, also includes a swap of third-round picks in this year's draft. That means the Chiefs will move up eight spots on Friday night.
Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach said last week that he was aggressively trying to upgrade the defense, and he acknowledged the window for winning a Super Bowl title began last season. That's when Patrick Mahomes took over at quarterback and had an MVP season as a first-time starter, leading Kansas City to a third consecutive AFC West title and the conference championship game.
"We want to take the next step," Veach said. "Certainly, it goes without saying our offense was pretty efficient last year, and I think we are always looking to improve and get better."
Seattle already had the 21st pick overall pick Thursday night, and now General Manager John Schneider has an additional first-day selection as he begins rebuilding his own defense.
Clark was chosen by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2015 draft, though most agreed he was a first-round talent docked by off-the-field concerns. He quickly became a dependable edge rusher, piling up 36 sacks over his first four seasons with a team-best 14 this past season.
The Seahawks placed the franchise tag on him after the season, but Clark had yet to sign the $17.128 million deal as rumors of a trade swirled. Several other teams also inquired about landing him ahead of the draft.
"This time, and the trade deadline, there's some speculation about a lot of players," Schneider said on Monday. "We're involved in a lot of deals. We take a lot of pride in that. We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we weren't listening to everybody."
Kansas City ultimately won the bidding for him.
Veach has spent most of the offseason rebuilding one of the league's worst defenses, one that played a key role in their AFC title game loss. They lost in overtime to New England when the Patriots won the coin toss, marched downfield and scored the winning touchdown in a 37-31 victory.
In a matter of days, the Chiefs fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, hired new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and began sifting through their personnel as they switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3 system.
They got rid of longtime safety Eric Berry and high-priced linebackers Justin Houston and Dee Ford, sending the latter to San Francisco for a second-round pick next year, and carved out enough cap space to find replacements. They signed safety Tyrann Mathieu, cornerback Bashaud Breeland, linebacker Damien Wilson and defensive end Alex Okafor in free agency, then traded safety Eric Murray to former GM John Dorsey and the Cleveland Browns for defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.
All told, the Chiefs have signed or traded for five new defensive starters.
"We didn't win the Super Bowl," Veach said, "so we can get better. I think all across the board, there is talent that we can acquire, and we can get more depth on both sides of the football."
Sports on 04/24/2019