Seahawks did plenty of due diligence before drafting controversial Frank Clark

Tom Pelissero | USA TODAY Sports

Frank Clark's former coaches stood behind him. The female prosecutor handling his domestic violence case allowed him to plead down to a fourth-degree misdemeanor. He'd voluntarily entered counseling and came across as sincere in meetings with NFL teams.

The Seattle Seahawks, who invested extra time and resources into researching Clark as a person, were convinced enough by his character to draft the ex-Michigan defensive end near the end of the second round last week. And they weren't the only team sold.

"I would've taken him in the third round," a general manager from another NFL team told USA TODAY Sports, speaking on condition of anonymity for competitive reasons. "I saw the remorse in his eyes. I saw his body language. He understands that he can never do it again."

A year ago, such an explanation might have mitigated the backlash, including criticism of the Seahawks' decision not to re-interview witnesses about the November incident in an Ohio hotel room involving Clark's then-girlfriend that led to his dismissal from the Wolverines football team.

At least four NFL teams didn't have Clark on their draft boards, people with knowledge of those teams' plans said, and there were likely more — in large part because few GMs have sufficient equity to take the heat in the face of heightened sensitivity over domestic violence issues.

But at a time when the league office and Commissioner Roger Goodell are making a point to say they will no longer defer to the justice system, thanks mostly to the Ray Rice fiasco last year, Clark's case illustrates the bind NFL teams enter when they're expected to do the same.

"It was not what I refer to as a battering or domestic violence situation," said Lynne Gast-King, municipal prosecutor for Sandusky, Ohio, since 1996. "It was a verbal argument that went into a physical argument that spiraled out of control, and both parties had their part in this."

So if the state of Ohio says Clark isn't a batterer, and the NFL is doing nothing to bar him from the league, should it be the responsibility of people trained and paid to scout football players to conduct their own criminal investigation and render an independent verdict?

As of late February, when Clark's agent, Erik Burkhardt, met with the Seahawks at the scouting combine, the team's message was clear: "If he has these charges pending, we won't draft him," Burkhardt recalled being told during a phone call Thursday.

In the months that followed, the Seahawks went beyond their normal research. They talked to Clark's attorney and his counselor. Seahawks general manager John Schneider deployed national scout Ed Dodds to Ann Arbor, Mich., on a two-day fact-finding mission that turned up the same support among everyone from recruiters and coaches to university officials that other NFL teams heard.

"Obviously something happened," an area scout for an AFC team said, "but everybody there stood behind (the) kid."

Clark, 21, had one other incident shortly after arriving on campus: an arrest for stealing a laptop that led to a guilty plea and probation on a felony home invasion charge. But he'd never been in a fight, people at the school told teams. He'd never been late to meetings. He was all football.

After Clark's November arrest, embattled coach Brady Hoke — fired weeks later — dismissed him from the football program, but Clark was allowed to remain enrolled as a student. That was another positive sign for potential employers even before Gast-King allowed the plea April 9 to a charge of persistent disorderly conduct. He was fined $250 and $100 in court costs.

"I simply put myself in a position I shouldn't have been in," Clark told Seattle reporters on a conference call during the draft. "There's no better way I can say it. I shouldn't have been there in the first place, and I take full responsibility for everything that happened."

The Seahawks brought in Clark for a pre-draft visit. They had him meet with their sports psychologist. They cross-checked the story he told with other teams: that the altercation turned physical when his then-girlfriend threw something at him. And though he restrained her — leading her to bite his nose — he never hit her, despite the ugly details of the aftermath contained in the police report.

After interviewing both Clark and his former girlfriend, Diamond Hurt, as well as Hurt's family members, Gast-King came to the conclusion that Clark, who had been drinking, didn't intend to injure her. Hurt didn't want charges filed, nor does she want to be referred to as a victim, Gast-King said.

"We need to reserve the heaviest level of the law for those people who truly are batterers and the victims who have no way out of these abusive relationships," Gast-King said. "I am supposed to protect the victim and the public, and I think we have done that.

"If the NFL doesn't like it, that's really not what I'm worried about."

Not everybody bought Clark's story, which he'll surely be asked to retell to the media upon making his rookie minicamp debut Friday. Even some who did believe him didn't want the scrutiny that surely would follow drafting him, much less if Clark lands in trouble again.

Still, eight teams brought him in for official visits, and three worked him out privately, Burkhardt said, adding that "in my 11 years of being an agent, I've never seen multiple teams put in the amount of work they did on Frank."

NFL Security alerted teams to Clark's plea and the fact he wouldn't face discipline — though it would be a factor in any subsequent incident under the newly enhanced personal conduct policy. Another domestic violence issue, even absent a conviction, could sideline Clark a year or more.

The Seahawks were willing to take that risk once they got comfortable enough with Clark as a person to focus on the versatile pass-rushing threat he can become. They also believe the culture they've created under coach Pete Carroll can keep him moving in the right direction, as it has for others.

Life in general is a second chance for Clark, who was raised in the rough part of south central Los Angeles known as "The Jungle" by a mother he has said battled drug problems. He sometimes slept in shelters before he relocated to Ohio at age 10.

"All he has in his life is football," the GM interviewed by USA TODAY Sports said, "and he is not a bad person."

There was no way to avoid the public response to the Seahawks drafting of Clark, particularly with their top pick. For better or worse, he is the face of their rookie class.

It's up to him to show their trust in him — and everyone else's — wasn't misplaced.

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Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero