Jadeveon Clowney is surprisingly still on the market this late in the process, and he’s one of the most interesting situations left to monitor. A couple of days ago we heard that Clowney had lowered his asking price from around $20MM a year to $17-18MM annually after not receiving the offers he was hoping for.
Now we’ve got a new batch of notes on his status, courtesy of John Clayton of ESPN 710 Seattle. Clayton writes that the Seahawks are taking a wait and see approach with Clowney and are being patient. He thinks Seattle might be willing to only pay between $13-15MM for him, which would be a steep discount. New York has been talked about as an interested team, but Clayton writes to “scratch the thoughts on the Jets.”
Clayton writes the Jets’ discussions consisted of only one phone call to his agent and that they haven’t made him an offer, so it sounds like their interest has possibly been a bit overstated. Clayton acknowledges that the Titans are interested, but thinks it might be hard for Tennessee to fit him into their cap after they already gave fellow outside linebacker Vic Beasley a $9MM contract.
Of course Titans head coach Mike Vrabel coached Clowney during their time in Houston, so maybe he’ll be extra motivated to make it work. Clayton opines that had Clowney lowered his demands in the first couple of days of free agency, he would’ve had a deal. The Seahawks by all accounts want to bring him back, and it sounds like they might end up getting a great deal if Clowney’s leverage continues to decrease. We’ve also heard the next best free agent rusher Everson Griffen is interested in joining the Seahawks, so that could be their backup plan if Clowney heads elsewhere.
Griffin and Clowney would be great on the D-line
Can’t afford both, unless they release some more players.
Agree. Already picked up Irvin, so Clowney and Irvin would cause some havoc.
15M per year with incentives for sack, pressure, TFL? If he is that 20M year a guy… 1M for 10+ sacks 1M more for 15+. 1M for 10+ TFL, 1M more for 15+. 1M for 40+ Pressues, 1M for 50+ Pressures.
If he has a truly elite season he’d hit all those.
Excellent post.
Agree
Totally agree. All contracts should have a lower base and high rewards. But I guess u can’t manage ur cap that way. If that even influences the cap. Not sure how that works.
Wow! 3 sacks and not playing the whole year = $15 million? Nice gig…
It seems like this guy can be had for 16 a year, what on earth is keeping the Jets from making this obvious signing?
They’re the Jets.
First there has to be mutual interest. Who would want to play for either of the NY teams. Nobody who wants anything more than a check.
You have talent and you have results. He has never had a 10+ sack season. He has never got up to 60 tackles. He has also played on a defense were the pressure was not on him to preform. He has an injury history as well. I wonder what he is like in the locker room?
Clowney was known to be an excellent guy to have in the locker room. From his one season with Seattle.
I would love to have him back, but only on terms of not handicapping the team.
If the deal doesn’t break the bank, I think they’d be wise to try to make a deal happen, loaded with incentives as one has already mentioned. If he wants to be paid like one of the top edge rushers, so be it – perform and produce like one.
Clowney is not a bad player. If the Browns got him, I’d be excited about it.
But he’s also significantly overvaluing himself. It’s been almost 6 years since he was drafted, and at some point teams are going to look past the hype he came into the league with to notice that the hype no longer matches the production. His sack totals are way lower than they should be but that’s discounting his impact in the run game). He’s a good player that expects to be paid like an elite player.
He overplayed his hand. It’s that simple.
Are the Hawks able to offer him a one-year deal starting at 15M-16M fully guaranteed with incentives to get him to his 20M+ aspirations? These incentives (statistically driven) if reached, could include a clause that can lead to a contract extension, in which the Seahawks can turn this amount (incentives) into a signing bonus that can be spread out among the life of the extension, while keeping the 2020 cap hit at the 15M-16M range. This, in turn, could possibly open an opportunity (with additional roster moves/cuts) to still be in the mix for Everson Griffen.
There is room for both of they cut Britt
In fairness I think Clowney is worth about 13-15 mil and glad Seahawks are staying as is. They are even prepared to look at Griffin which means they are showing him we don’t need you.
To be honest at this stage in FA he needs them.
No one else really has that kinda money to waste and if they did get close to that 17-18 mil your doing to be on a bad team. The Hawks defence is solid and if you join them your going to look good. I’d take the 13/15 mil and add some incentives and be happy
anything can happen in the NFL. However, a legit contender for Clowney are the Titans. Don’t think Seattle has this in the bag. The Titans are a playoff team and Vrabel was Clowney’s DC back in Houston. Schneider has handled the situation well so far. Clowney’s probably waiting for this whole COVID-19 BS to end, but it could be months before a vaccine is ready for the general public. Teams apparently are concerned about his micro-fracture surgery he had on his knee back in Houston. What he’s probably waiting for is the opportunity to get teams’ physicians to check out that knee to confirm his health, but that’s going to be at the discretion of Roger Goodell and how long this pandemic lasts. This could be a while…