After leading the NFL with a 13-4 record, the Ravens are primed to experience a potential mass exodus of talent in free agency. The team was able to secure defensive tackle All-Pro Justin Madubuike on a new four-year, $98MM extension, but other key contributors like Odell Beckham Jr., Kevin Zeitler, Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins, Devin Duvernay, and John Simpson on offense and Patrick Queen, Geno Stone, Ronald Darby, and Kyle Van Noy on defense are all still on their way to free agency. 
While many of the above players are expected to leave Baltimore this offseason, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic tells us that both the Ravens and outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney interested in keeping their partnership going. Clowney joined the Ravens halfway through training camp on a one-year, $2.5MM deal. After delivering one of his best seasons since his days in Houston, though, Clowney isn’t likely to play on another discounted contract.
Clowney finished second on the Ravens with 9.5 sacks in 2023, matching his career-high total from 2017. If Clowney can get a full offseason with the team under his belt, hopes are that he can avoid a letdown year with a system in which he thrived, something that occurred during his second year in Cleveland.
If the Ravens bring back Clowney, he will rejoin a group of outside linebackers that includes Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo, two players Baltimore is still waiting to see break out. The team is still hoping to get Tyus Bower back after watching the veteran miss the entire 2023 season with a knee injury.
Bowser claims that he’s making a full recovery from knee surgery and will definitely be back next season, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. Bowser will be coming back into a contract year, the final season of his four-year, $22MM deal. This is all assuming the Ravens don’t try to reduce his $7.5MM cap hit by $5.5MM by cutting him prior to his return.
The Ravens have some unproven, young assets at the position, but the team will likely hope to have some playmakers like Clowney, Bowser, and/or a potential new addition via the draft or free agency in the mix, as well. We’ll likely start to see their plan for the position moving forward as free agency starts this week.
Great news for the team, fans and players especially Madabuke.
Clowney’s always been a “what if?” story, between injuries and bad fits in his prime, so it was interesting last year to see him sign with the team that he arguably should have ended up with years ago. The Ravens had been in the background seemingly throughout Clowney’s career, and though he had a great first year in Cleveland and started off hot in Seattle before getting injured, it always seemed like he’d fit best in Baltimore. Lo and behold, he finally gets there, and has a good season, likely his best since Houston.
Clowney has always disappointed in the sack department, mostly because he doesn’t have a real developed set of pass rush moves, but he has always been good-mostly elite-against the run, and mostly good at getting pressure. Consistency has been an issue due to injury, but the reason that Clowney has been always been a good number two rusher is that he does apply pressure on a lot of snaps. He just often falters when it comes to finishing. This is evident on tape-if his initial technique is withstood by the lineman, he’ll get stood up and have trouble breaking free. But Clowney is so athletic that that first move usually applies that pressure that I mentioned and alters the pocket. A lot of athletic QBs can slip out and cause a loss of contain, however, when this happens.
Overall, this would be a great development for Baltimore. We’ll see if Clowney can manage to string together two seasons of good production and break that double digit regular season sack mark that has eluded him, but as of now, he’s a good piece to bring back for their front seven. Clowney’s never been bad, but he has been disappointing at times. When you go first overall, you expect sacks. Injuries prevented him from playing much with one of best defensive ends of all time, and consistency has been issue as he’s bounced around the league since. But if Clowney can play like he did last year-and his athleticism remains intact-he can show more of the great production that he is certainly capable of doing, and put good stats on paper to match.
AK185; my post below was meant to be a reply to you here.
He’s that guy that has just enough talent that opposing DCs have to account for him in their game plan. IE his activity helps free up the Madabuke types to be able to do their things. The injury history, of course, is the elephant in the room.
I agree. That’s the best way to describe Clowney’s, or utility in a nutshell: he’s a guy that you have to gameplan against.