Quick hits Las Vegas Raiders make contract offer to Clowney

The Las Vegas Raiders have joined the race to acquire Jadeveon Clowney.

The Raiders have extended an offer to the free agent defensive end, according to a report. The report added the Raiders’ offer is less than what “two or three” other teams have offered Clowney during the free agency period.

The Raiders currently have $8.28 million in salary cap space, but they still have to pay rookies and practice squad players, which will eat into that amount. Clowney is reportedly seeking a long-term deal worth about $17 million a season, and the Cleveland Browns reportedly have made the most lucrative offer.

The Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans are reportedly also interested in Clowney, who is considered the top free agent still available on the market.

Clowney, 27, was initially looking for a multi-year deal that paid him around $20 million annually. That market never materialized, reportedly forcing him to lower his asking price to around $17 million. The Browns offer, while matching in terms of annual dollars, may not be the length Clowney wants or could be packed with incentives, with one report saying the Browns’ offer was just $12 million in base salary.

Clowney earned $15 million with the Seahawks last season, but his numbers of 21 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, three sacks, 13 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 13 games has caused some executives to wonder about his consistency.

COVID-19.

Having played Muirfield Village six times during the Memorial Tournament, Thomas knows how the course looks with fans and bleachers. Neither will be present, opening sight lines and vistas previously unknown to the players.

“I think of holes like (No.) 6 where you can never see 7 and all the houses, holes like 9, people sitting all up on the bank there, same with 18. And 16, completely surrounded, we’re probably going to be able to see up 17 now,” Thomas said.

It has been nearly four months since pros played in front of fans. The last crowd gathered March 12 during the first round of the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla. Then the bottom fell out because of the pandemic.

The tour canceled the final three rounds of the Players as a safety precaution and soon canceled the next six tournaments. Play resumed June 11 at Colonial, but without spectators, and has continued without fans the past four tournaments.

The Memorial, rescheduled from June to next week at Muirfield Village, came close to becoming the first tour event to include fans, but that changed Monday when the tournament and tour did an about-face, deeming it unwise to allow spectators onto the grounds when COVID-19 cases are spiking nationwide and in Ohio.

Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick was disappointed to learn no fans would be allowed at the Memorial, but safety is his main concern.

“I think it’s the right decision for sure to not have fans for the time being. I think things really need to calm down,” he said. “My girlfriend was planning on coming up, but even before the announcement of no fans, we were sort of discussing flying commercial, the potential of catching something on that and then giving it to me, I give it to a few people, and it’s just not smart for the time being.”

Fitzpatrick would prefer to play in front of fans, but in his case the effect of not having them has been minimized because he has not gained celebrity status or played in enough final groups on Sunday to attract huge galleries.

Players are adjusting to silence-by-default, but caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay, who is filling in on the bag for Fitzpatrick this week and next, expects to be weirded out over the coming days.

“I’ve been talking to my caddie friends, and they said it’s very different, a completely different kind of atmosphere,” said Mackay, who works as an on-course analyst for NBC and Golf Channel after spending 25 years lugging Phil Mickelson’s bag. The two mutually parted ways in 2017.

“I always tell people when I was caddying — even caddying for Phil on days when you had huge galleries — you’d be surprised what we could hear as players and caddies in terms of what comes from the spectators,” Mackay said. “Now to not have that, it’s just going to be eerily quiet, and of course you’re that much more able as a fan at home watching this to hear what’s going on out there between the ropes, which I think is really cool.”

Cool but also dull. Thomas, for one, misses the fans.

“The biggest difference (without fans) was those first two weeks when I played well and was around the lead,” he said. “That was a bummer.”