Whatever focus there was on the Seattle Seahawks quarterback competition is taking a back seat during this week's minicamp because of the absence of starting defensive end Chris Clemons.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday that Clemons is holding out from the mandatory team minicamp over what Carroll characterized as concerns about Clemons' future. Carroll was under the impression that Clemons would participate in minicamp after skipping part of the voluntary offseason workouts, but the coach said that changed in recent days.
"In communications with Chris, I thought he was coming, so this is kind of a late development that he's not," Carroll told the Everett Herald. "So I'm a little bit surprised that he's not here.
"We've had open communications with the agent and with Chris, and we feel like everything is on the up and up and very amicable. It continues to be one of our priorities and we'd love to get him back, but it doesn't look like he's going to show up for the rest of camp."
Clemons has reason to worry about his future. Despite leading Seattle in sacks each of the last two seasons, Clemons is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $4 million. Meanwhile, Seattle drafted defensive end Bruce Irvin with the 15th overall pick in April's draft.
"He's got another year on his contract, so we're talking about future potential stuff, and that's something we've had our eye on for some time with him," Carroll said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
