The Texans will save a bit of cash this season, as Jadeveon Clowney has been classified as a linebacker (instead of a defensive end) for fifth-year option purposes, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
Fifth-year options are based on positional value, and fifth-year options for top-10 picks such as Clowney are equal to the transition tender at the player’s position during his fourth season. When Houston exercised its option on Clowney, the club figured it was signing up for a $13.846MM defensive end salary. Instead, the Texans will only have to give Clowney $12.306MM, the figure for a linebacker.
Of course, the Texans are reportedly hoping to work out a long-term extension with Clowney prior to the 2018 campaign, so his new base salary could be moot, as Clowney would likely blow past both figures on a new deal.
“long-term” haha until the cap figure is too high and they cut him like Suh.