Inside Sack360: Ex-Seattle Seahawks star Cliff Avril hopes to establish top pass-rush academy

When Cliff Avril knew for sure that his NFL career was over, after the Seattle Seahawks waived him following the 2017 season with a failed physical designation, he wanted to stay involved with football.

Not to be a coach, per say. But to still be in it. Somehow. A few of his younger teammates on the defensive line, after all, had already started reaching out to him, asking what his next move would be. They wanted to pick his brain. That turned into impromptu training sessions that offseason; an outlet for him to share his wisdom from a decade in the league. Frank Clark and Quinton Jefferson were two of the first guys he worked out.

Before long, Avril realized that he’d found what he’d been looking for.

“In that first offseason, I was training both of those guys (Clark and Jefferson) and I trained a few other D-linemen and it just kind of became a thing and I realized my passion for it,” Avril said in a phone interview with SeattlePI. “I like being able to give back some of the knowledge I have and things I’ve picked up over the years.”

Those first sessions have grown into what is now formally called Sack360, Avril’s pass-rush program. It offers pros and elite prospects a thorough immersion on the art of getting to the quarterback, from hands-on field work to film study.

The workouts, which Avril has been posting clips of on social media this offseason, take place at Ford Sports Performance in Bellevue.

Most of Avril’s clientele are from his old team, the Seahawks. Workouts that started two years ago with just a “few” guys now include most of Seattle’s defensive line room. Jarran Reed, Poona Ford, Bruce Irvin, Rasheem Green, Branden Jackson, Bryan Mone and Demarcus Christmas have all worked with Avril this offseason. Linebackers Bobby Wagner and Cody Barton have hopped in for trench work, too. Seahawks’ 2020 fifth-round choice Alton Robinson trained with Avril ahead of the 2020 draft. University of Washington defensive linemen have stopped by as well. And Eastside Catholic standout Jaylahn Tuimoloau, the No. 2 ranked high school football player in the nation in the class of 2021, according to the 247sports composite, is his youngest client.

The purpose of it all, to Avril: to spread his knowledge. He has so much of it from 10 years in the NFL. So why not do something with it?

Avril starred as a pass rusher in the league. He played five seasons with both the Lions (2008-12) and the Seahawks (2013-17), racking 74 career sacks — 39.5 with Detroit (sixth in Lions’ history) and 34.5 with Seattle (11th in Seahawks’ history). He’s second in Seattle history in forced fumbles with 14. He was a key member of a star-studded Seahawks’ defensive line in the middle of the last decade that helped the Legion of Boom to thrive, and the franchise to consecutive Super Bowl trips in 2013 and ‘14, winning it all in the former.

Just a few years ago, Avril was the NFL’s top strip-sack artist.

“I approach it like I’m one of the guys first and foremost because the guys know my resume,” Avril said of his training approach. “I’m definitely not big timing them or anything yelling or coming off as a coach that they’re normally used to hearing. Coaches are always spazzing out and all these different things. They don’t get that from me. More so than anything, it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re going to talk about your steps. We’re going to talk about the technique. We’re going to talk about all these different things and now we’re going to do drills and get after it. It’s non stop. It’s a good pace. We’re going to go for an hour straight and we’re always going to work your hands and different things like that.’ That’s my approach.”

Avril aims for Sack360 to be an all-encompassing experience for pass rushers. It starts early in the spring, with the former Pro Bowler breaking down film with his clients, getting an idea of where the player is at: What kind of rusher are you? How can your strengths be enhanced?

His workouts double down on that intel. For an hour straight, it’s nothing but pass rushing and football movements in the trenches. Coupled with the other training resources available at Ford Sports, Avril hopes to offer a one-stop shop for his clients.

But the support doesn’t end when players report back to their teams for training camp. Avril is in contact with guys during the season, offering critiques on their tape and sharing advice.

“For me, it’s extremely cool to watch a Frank Clark, after a year of training with him — I want to say it was probably two offseasons — and then you see him go sign this megadeal,” Avril said of Clark, who signed a five-year contract worth $104 million with the Chiefs in April 2019 after Seattle traded him to Kansas City. “And Quinton Jefferson, he signed a big deal. Jarran Reed, another guy. You go see him sign a big deal. So for me, it’s very gratifying, just being able to know that I played a little bit, a slither of a role in them being able to change their lives is pretty cool.”

Even as an inside linebacker, Wagner finds working with Avril, his former teammate, as very beneficial. The five-time first-team All-Pro selection doesn’t get to blitz a lot in the Seahawks’ defensive scheme. But when he does, he wants to make sure he’s honed the techniques required to be effective. He wants to get his sack count up, too. That’s where Avril has come in, Wagner explained.

Wagner sees Avril being just a couple years removed from the NFL as a huge advantage in training today’s players.

“He’s able to relate to anybody,” Wagner said. “He’s able to kind of have anybody understand the technique he’s trying to teach. And then he’s able to do it still. You can tell he’s mastered the position, mastered the technique he’s trying to teach. It makes it easier to lock in, easier to listen to because he’s not far removed from playing. If anybody tries to question any technique that he has, the film isn’t old enough where you can’t pop it in. You can put it in and see how well he played for a long period of time.”

Barton, entering his second year in the NFL, has worked with Avril only a couple times this summer. But he said he’s already learned ‘a ton’ from the former Seahawks star.

“You could even tell when he demonstrates all this stuff, he knows what he’s doing to a tee,” Barton explained. “After each person goes (during a session), he’ll briefly tell you, ‘Keep your hands tighter’ and he’ll show you by mirroring it. And then once everybody goes through, he’ll come up to you and actually explain, ‘You’re doing this. You’re doing X, Y and Z. But you need to do X, Y and Z this way because,’ and then he’ll give you an explanation, you know what I mean? He’s actually very thorough with the way he explains things and demonstrates it and talks it out with you and explains why doing it a certain way isn’t good and why doing it another way is good. He covers all the details of it and it makes sense to me.”

Avril said a few NFL coaches have reached out to him, gauging his interest in assistant gigs. But for now, he’s content with his personal training work. He likes being the informal “big homie” to his clients; someone they can tap into whenever they need advice.

Avril didn’t start the business side of Sack360 — getting compensated — until last year.

“I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot (when coaching opportunities come), but coaches put in a lot of hours and I have two little boys right now that I really want to be involved with,” Avril said. “I feel like my (football) career in itself I was putting in a gazillion hours, too. So right now, I kind of want to be on my own schedule and be able to be around the kids, but also do something and give back to these kids on my own clock. Now, who knows what the future holds? But right now, this is kind of the pace and what I like to be able to do —  controlling my own time and controlling how much work I want to put into it.”

But don’t get it twisted. Avril wants to see his pass-rush program continue to grow.

He’s built a base with the Seahawks. Now he wants to work with more players from other teams, too. He’s been in contact with guys from the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s been working to establish a “seamless” setup for Sack360 — what would allow players from other cities to be able to come in, work with him for three to four weeks and go back home, with the option of working with him again later in a given offseason.

Avril believes he would’ve had more guys train him this year if it weren’t for the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We will have packages that include housing for the guys to be able to come in, and the only thing they’d have to worry about getting is rental cars,” Avril said.

Avril has been able to pursue philanthropic endeavors through his family foundation. And he knows he’ll have his opportunities in sports media moving forward, even though he’s no longer with 950 KJR. There’s an audience for his insight during football season.

But through Sack360, he’s again at close proximity to the game. Those tricks and techniques that helped him find success for a decade? He can share them with the next generation, in a more intimate space.

It’s a new passion he’s wholeheartedly committed to.

“I do want it to be one of those things where guys are thinking, when the offseason rolls around, ‘Yeah, we’re going to Sack360 this year” Avril said. “I want to be at the forefront for those guys to know that this is a good space to be able to come in, get some info from an ex-player. I’m only a couple years removed from the game, and just (have the guys) pick my brain and go out there and execute.”

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Ben Arthur covers sports for SeattlePI. He can be reached by email at benjaminarthur@seattlepi.com. Follow him on twitter at @benyarthur.