Last night, we heard that the Browns were hoping to host Jadeveon Clowney for a second time today, and that a deal was looking likely. We may need to pump the brakes there just a little bit.
Cleveland is going to host Clowney on Wednesday now, and “nothing is imminent” on the contract front, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports (Twitter video link). We heard this morning that the Ravens and Colts are also pursuing the edge rusher, so they’ve got competition. Interestingly, Rapsheet says that the Browns want to see Clowney pass a physical on Wednesday. They’re apparently at least a bit concerned about the former first overall pick’s knee.
Clowney who has had multiple knee injuries in his career, is coming off surgery for a torn meniscus that limited him to just eight games with the Titans in 2020. Cleveland has made finding an edge rusher to pair opposite Myles Garrett, and replace Olivier Vernon, a priority this offseason.
They were in on J.J. Watt, and signed fellow former first-rounder Takkarist McKinley. It appeared a Clowney signing was likely to happen to day, but now it looks like we’re going to have to wait at least a couple of days.
Clowney waited until the first week of September to sign last year, so this is actually an expedited process for him. 2020 was somewhat of a lost season, as he finished with no sacks in that injury-plagued half campaign.
As long as team are willing to pony up for JC, then he should simply go year to year. Personally, I think he’s ordinary that lives off that hit college and being the 1st pick more than actual production.
He had a season or two with the Texans, I think Watt tore his ACL in one of them, where he was pretty impressive, especially against the run. All around yes he is not all that, but I’d still say he’s above average when healthy. Would be a good pick up for the browns.
Doesn’t stay healthy much though
He’s a lazya$$ buffoon, he regularly takes plays off.
That’s the most frustrating thing about this guy. I was at the Hawks OT win in the MNF game v SF where he single-handedly took over that game. He put the fear of god into Jimmy G ALL night and at times looked un-stoppable but you couldn’t say the same about him in the other 15 g that yr.
Yeah, the health is the question with Clowney. He has his upsides and downsides, but most people are categorically incorrect as to why. He did not live off a single hit in college, as he was already the consensus first overall pick before that. He also does not take plays off. Viewing his tape does not support this conclusion. It does show plays where he is explosive and others where is shut down, but it’s not due to effort.
The problems with Clowney are these: he is injury prone for one, and two he does not have a developed set if pass rushing moves. His physicality and agility and get off speed are insane, and unmatched by nearly any player that we’ve seen. He can hit a lineman with a massive combination of speed and power instantly with his get off, but he does not have the ability to beat his blocker with moves of his physicality does not. That’s why, when you watch Clowney’s tape, you see him push back linemen past the LoS, but never detach. On one hand, this creates pocket pressure and can collapse running lanes, on the other, it never turns into actual sacks. It’s not as bad when a back comes running towards him and he can grab him, but worse when he needs to attack a quarterback.
Clowney also seems to pick his pass rush set before the snap, and can’t really change mid-rush if the lineman guesses his strategy. He can’t shift to another set of moves or style to counter linemen, which hurts his ability to detach. These are Clowney’s issues that can be verified on tape, unlike suppositions about laziness. A lot of times, though, he has to draw double or even triple teams to deal with his physicality, so there is usually a benefit to having him on the field-if he is, again, healthy.
Just saying welcome on low money 2 year deal in seattle?? maybe??
Trade up and get twitty paye.