Clowney plays up return to Seahawks
In his first public comments since the end of last season, free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said he has not ruled out that he could still return to the Seahawks.
“I hope we can work something out if anything happens,” Clowney said. “I did like it up there. I love Russ [Russell Wilson]. I love all the guys I played with. J. Reed [Jarran Reed], B. Jack [Branden Jackson], all them boys in my [defensive] room. I respect them guys.
“I love Seattle. I love everyone on the coaching staff.”
But what Clowney undoubtedly wanted to get across more in his interview with FOX 26 Houston TV on Tuesday night is that he’s healthy.
The interview was conducted at a gym in Houston — with lots of shots of him exercising — that Clowney said he has been attending for the past two months since having surgery following the season to repair a hernia.
He was injured during his best game as a Seahawk, an overtime win over the 49ers on Nov. 11 in which he returned a fumble for a touchdown and generally wreaked havoc on a team that ended up in the Super Bowl.
“I just want to let people know
I’m ready,” Clowney said.
Questions about his health — the core surgery as well as his microfracture knee surgery in 2014 — have undoubtedly played a significant role in the fact that he remains unsigned almost seven weeks since the free agency period opened on March 18. His situation was further complicated because he could not make visits with teams and take physicals because of the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on travel.
Clowney said he doesn’t doubt his health has affected his freeagent process. “It might have a little more than I expected,” he said. But he vowed his health won’t be an issue next season saying: “Whoever I sign with is going to get the best version of me.”
While Clowney says he’s open to returning to Seattle, the Seahawks have likewise publicly left the door open for a return by Clowney at every turn.
GM John Schneider said in interviews last week with local radio stations and following the draft that the door was not closed on Clowney to come back for a second season in Seattle.
He said so again in an interview Wednesday with longtime CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore. “He knows the door is not closed,” Schneider said.