A number of teams have been connected in some way or another to free agent edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney over the course of the past several months. The Eagles and Ravens are two such teams, but while there was plenty of speculation linking Clowney to those clubs, there were no concrete reports on that front. However, Mark Berman of Fox 26 KRIV may have changed that last night.
Per Berman’s sources, Philadelphia and Baltimore are among the teams expressing interest in Clowney’s services (Twitter link). Of course, the degree of their interest is unclear, and it’s possible that those clubs are simply keeping tabs on Clowney in case he falls into a certain price range or in case something should happen to one of their other pass rushers. Nonetheless, the “addition” of two Super Bowl hopefuls to the market is notable and will certainly be welcomed by Clowney himself.
The Ravens’ edge rushing contingent is headed by the franchise-tagged Matt Judon, but we do not know where the two sides stand in their negotiations of a long-term pact, and Judon has been rumored as a trade candidate. Although Baltimore’s cap space as it presently stands would seem to preclude a Clowney signing without restructuring the contracts of other players, the team could theoretically trade Judon for quality draft capital and allocate his cap charge to Clowney. The Ravens did re-sign Pernell McPhee just yesterday, and while McPhee can certainly be useful as a rotational pass rusher, his presence will hardly stop GM Eric DeCosta from pursuing Clowney if he believes there’s a fit.
Meanwhile, a pass rusher is arguably the Eagles’ biggest remaining need. Philadelphia has enough salary cap room to fit Clowney into the roster this year, but the club has a lot of work to do with respect to its 2021 cap, especially if the cap should decline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So any rollover money the Eagles can carry from 2020 into 2021 will be hugely beneficial. On the other hand, if GM Howie Roseman thinks Clowney can help get his team back to the promised land this year, then his 2021 cap situation will not stop him from pulling the trigger.
Berman also notes that the Titans and Browns are very much in the mix for Clowney, though their interest has been well-documented. In addition, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft has not ruled out a return to the Seahawks.
“I hope we can work something out if anything happens,” Clowney said. “I did like it up there. … I love all the guys I played with. … I love Seattle. … I love everyone on the coaching staff” (Twitter link via Berman).
Consistent with what we heard last week, Clowney said he is willing to wait to sign until interested clubs can bring him in for a physical. “I know what’s going on in the world,” Clowney said. “It’s a slow process until teams can see me and see what I got and can give me physicals. I’m just waiting on the right opportunity” (Twitter link via Berman).
Those comments were the first Clowney has made publicly since the end of the 2019 season, and he has been working out at a gym in Houston four days a week since undergoing core muscle surgery (Twitter link via Berman). He says he is fully recovered from his injury, but to get the payday he wants, he will likely need to wait until teams can make that determination for themselves.
Come to the LAND baby
What land?
Cleveland, the land of disappointment
Take em. Hes a disappointment
At this point, how much cap room can teams have left? I’d guess most teams considering signing a high-ticket free agent at this point would have to do some financial tap-dancing.
Eagles have infinite cap room as long as Howie is on charge.
Yeah, Howie the Wizard really killed it in the draft this year. And the Eagles are in cap hell next year. Please sign Clowney for big $: how often can you sign a 3 sack RDE?
i didnt say anything about the draft. as for next year’s cap that us next year’s problem. he’s been able to navigate cap issues before so he should be again.
Howie convinced Malcolm Jenkins to accept a deep haircut but it will be harder now as most of the remaining veterans are key pieces. Being stuck with Jeffery has also handcuffed him more than he would like.
please come to Philly so you cant cheap shot our QBs anymore
I love how they used that as his picture for this article.
Everyone is interested in Clowney, no one is interested in his $$$ demands.
At this point he will have to do like Suh and take a 1 year mercenary deal and show out on a team that has a long playoff run
Agreed he’s trying to reset the edge rusher salary .. good player but not for top dollar never even had a double sack season and doesn’t give effort sometimes
The Eagles have 27 million in cap space for 2020. Basically 2020 is Brandon Graham last season unless he restructure, because his cap hit escalates for 2021. Clowney at 27 would be his replacement and would give us a hell of a D-Line
I have the Eagles cap space at 22 million but Clowney is not going to sit around waiting until 2021. He’s certainly going to count for more against the cap than the $6M that Graham is currently costing Howie. Also throwing Brandon under the bus for Clowney right now would have a very negative effect in the locker room with the other veterans. The guys that help you win championships expect to see some loyalty in return.
and that’s why most teams don’t win continuously.
There are a lot of reasons why teams don’t win continuously but being your own worst enemy rarely helps.
I think the Eagles should go get clowney besides at the jadeveon clowney knocked out Carson Wentz from last year’s playoff game maybe this would be a way for clowney to get back in the good graces of Eagle fans to try to help them win a Superbowl this year make them forget all about what happened in the playoffs at the end of the 2019 season
For a legal hit? I don’t think he cares.
that was 100% a cheap shot. i dont know what hit youre thinking about because it couldn’t have been the one on Wentz.
Was ruled incidental. Not intentional hit. Reviewed by refs and the NFL. The hit sucks, yes. Injuries not good but there was no intention by Clowney.
There was absolutely no purpose to his contact, it was totally unnecessary as Wentz gave himself up. Cheap shot ting a guy from behind when he was already down and lead to such an injury should not have gone unpunished.
Lol that’s all one sentence?
@bumpy. “good graces of Eagle fans” has convinced me you have a delightful sense of humor.
Clowney is a clown. He’d fit in well in Philly.
About as well as Bennett, we never wanted that clown either.
No one could ever accuse Eagle fans of being “ambiguous” in expressing their opinions. I remember a funny incident from years ago when Ron Jaworski told a rookie WR who was having a bad game “This is the city of brotherly love…but you ain’t nobody’s brother today”.
Surely the browns pick him up.
Dump Bernon and sign this guy, you have the money and you kind of have the need if you want to make the playoffs to make that defence better. Clowney and Garrett would be super solid together
Clowney may lower his asking price for the Ravens. I remember somewhere his saying that they were one of his preferred destinations (I believe at the time of the horrid Texans trade-the one with Clowney, not the other ones). He also preferred the Giants this year, but obviously that hasn’t worked out.
No one is signing him until they can give him a physical with their team doctors, first off. Secondly, while his current price would have been very attractive (say, $16 million) at the outset of free agency, it is much less so now after free agency’s initial phase and the draft.
The Eagles, Ravens, and Titans I figure are simply keeping their eye on Clowney and waiting on the price to drop. It seems as if Cleveland and Seattle may be the only two actively pursuing him, though at a much reduced price in Seattle’s case. What everybody is really waiting on is the physical.
Clowney’s profile as a player is actually less concerning. If teams were turned off by that we’d hear about fewer teams sniffing around that top tier level price tag. Clowney is a top level disruptor and a force against the run and creating pressures, but has not managed a double digit sack season (coming half a sack shy two years ago). The “work ethic” concerns are largely an internet rumor that do not show up on tape when you watch or at least are impossible to verify (the Texans’ playoff run when Watt was again out is a pretty good season to view), but the injury concerns are not a rumor. It seems Clowney has trouble developing a second set of moves in his pass rush to bring down the QB, so why would teams be interested? Well, despite the lack of sacks, he consistently draws double teams, disrupts the pocket, and grades as one of the best run defenders in the NFL, if not occasionally the best. Teams are willing to pay for that, but his injury concerns and the question of whether he will stay long term are noticeable for teams considering a long term deal. I would imagine a three year pact is realistic if he doesn’t have to settle for a Suh-like prove it deal for a year.