Still lingering on the NFL free-agent market, Jadeveon Clowney could end up back in Seattle after finding out the hard way he isn’t worth $21 million.
“He came in, did a great job for us,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said of the 27-year-old defensive end in a video conference on Tuesday. “We made an effort to re-sign him. We’d still — the door is not closed, but we couldn’t wait any longer. We had to conduct business, and so he knew that.”
Earlier this offseason, the Seahawks reportedly extended a generous $18.5 million-per-year offer to Clowney, who recorded three sacks, 21 tackles and four forced fumbles in 13 games after being traded from the Texans. They eventually signed defensive ends Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin, both of whom the team is “very comfortable with” and “confident in.”
“We’re excited about having those guys back,” Schneider said.
The Dolphins also pursued Clowney, offering the star edge rusher $17 million-per-year before opting for two less prominent defensive ends Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson.
“No one has met Clowney’s price or even, from what I understand, really come close to it,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said in March. “So at this point, it seems he is willing to wait for the right deal.”
The three-time Pro Bowler turned down both bids in hopes of signing a more lucrative deal closer to those of the Bears’ Khalil Mack and Cowboys’ DeMarcus Lawrence. The Browns, Jets and Giants are all rumored to have expressed interest in Clowney, but he remains unsigned even after lowering his asking price to $17 million.
“He just is going to kind of feel his way through this odd process, and we’ll see where that goes,” Schneider said.
Clowney’s unsuccessful free-agency campaign could be less of a reflection on the former No. 1 overall pick’s skill set and talent, but rather an unfortunate fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which has suspended NFL physicals indefinitely. The 6-foot-5, 225 pound South Carolina product is recovering from a core-muscle injury which required surgery, and teams could perceive the oft-injured defensive lineman, who has only played in all 16 games once (2017) as too risky.
“We’ll see if Clowney comes back around or not. We don’t know,” Carroll said. “Things have changed a little bit. Guys haven’t been able to travel around and get to places and visit and stuff like that, so there’s a number of guys that have kind of taken [the approach that], ‘I’m going to wait and see what happens, buy some time here.'”
Earlier this month, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo called the chances of Clowney returning for a second year after signing Mayowa to a one-year deal as “slim to none” as the Seahawks are “moving on to Plan B, C and D” and “aren’t actively chasing Clowney right now.”