Free agent Jadeveon Clowney might be open to a return to Seattle, but it still takes two to tango.
The odds of a Seahawks reunion have shrunken considerably since the two parties last came to the table, and won’t change unless the star edge rusher is prepared to take a lot less than $21 million per year.
A league source told ESPN that Clowney would need to be open to accepting “significantly less money than what the team previously offered him” due to Seahawks’ current financial state, which has changed since the start of the league year.
The 27-year-old defensive end took a massive gamble at the beginning of free agency by rebuffing the Seahawks’ $18.5 million-per-year bid in hopes of finding a $21 million-per-year suitor. The team moved on after their unsuccessful pitch and signed defensive ends Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin, both of whom the team is “very comfortable with” and “confident in” per general manager John Schneider.
According to Spotrac, the Seahawks’ top 51 contracts leave them with just over $21 million in cap space, which does not reflect Irwin’s recent deal.
“We took a good run at it,” Schneider told KJR-AM last week, reiterating his past sentiments that the team had tried and moved on. “It didn’t happen. He’s a great guy. He fit in great in the locker room, did a really nice job for us, but we need to be conducting business, and he just was not in a position to make a move. So we gave it a run and now you’ve got to keep going, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Clowney also reportedly turned down a $17 million-per-year offer from the Dolphins, who later signed defensive ends Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson.
The 2014 No. 1 overall pick is the most prominent free agent still unsigned, along with Cam Newton, due in part to his high price tag and the injury risk he presents to any organization. Clowney’s career has been fraught with health issues since his time at South Carolina and he is recovering from core muscle and sports hernia surgery he underwent in February.
“I’m working, I’m staying ahead of schedule and I’m going to be ready to go when training camp starts [to be] the best Jadeveon Clowney come my day to perform and leave it all on the field,” he told FOX 26 on Tuesday. “I just want to let people know I’m ready, I’ll be ready to go whenever the time comes. Whoever I sign with will get the best version of me.”
With NFL physicals paused amid the coronavirus outbreak, teams have been unable to assess that progress in-person, which could be a contributing factor to his unsuccessful free-agency plight.
“I don’t know if people think I’m hurt because of what I went through because of the core or because of previous years,” Clowney said. “I’m just taking one day at a time and staying focused.”