NFLPA To File Grievance Against Texans

As members of the 2016 draft begin to sign extensions, 2014’s No. 1 overall pick is set to play yet another season without a long-term deal. And there will now be drama over Jadeveon Clowney‘s 2019 salary.

The NFLPA is expected to file a grievance against the Texans regarding Clowney’s franchise tag figure, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The Texans tagged Clowney as a linebacker, and that price comes in at $15.967MM — $1.698MM less than Clowney would have received on the defensive end tag.

The Texans paid Clowney just more than $1MM this year to resolve a dispute about his position as it related to his 2018 fifth-year option salary. Houston uses a 3-4 defense and deploys Clowney as a stand-up linebacker in base sets, but the college defensive lineman spends more time in three-point stances in sub-packages as a pro. The defensive line-linebacker split was roughly 60-40 in favor of a D-line role, Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson tweets.

This has turned into quite the year for the Texans, who also fired their GM — one who was on board with a Clowney extension — and will not replace him until 2020. Clowney has hovered in extension limbo with the Texans for well over a year. Now, more back-and-forth will likely commence between he and the team that took him first overall five years ago.

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