Which brings me to my original point: why on earth would Clarke forfeit the $14.25 million dollars he's owed. Remember, this is a guy who made a sketchy comeback like 4 months after Dorion said he was basically done for the season (because he couldn't pass his baselines in January.) Pretty obvious to me that Clarke wants to keep playing.
Clarke said he 'tested retirement life' in Florida for a week last season before he came back. He wasn't ready to call it a career.
As to why he'd forfeit 14 mil, well, some things, like not having a scrambled brain and being able to remember your daughter's name, are more important than money, particularly when you've set you and your immediate family up financially already, and the extra money doesn't actually impact your lifestyle significantly.
Players are proud and want to get what they feel they deserve, so they will occasionally hold out for better contracts, but that doesn't mean that money is the driving factor for every decision in life. The difference between a player earning 4 mil per year and 8 mil per year won't likely result in drastic changes in their lifestyles (if any) or the security of their family's future, it's not about money at that point, it's about respect. If Clarke feels it's time to hang them up, the money won't be an issue. However, if he's not cleared and injury is preventing him from playing, of course he'll unofficially LTI'retire, as in his mind, he earned it. Look at Urschel in the NFL, retired at 26 after just 3 years. That decision wasn't financially motivated; he left a lot of money on the table.