Report: Browns, Clowney set to meet again

The Browns must really, really like Jadeveon Clowney.

The Browns and Clowney plan to meet on April 12, according to Josina Anderson, formerly of ESPN. It will be the second meeting within three weeks between the Browns and the free agent defensive end.

Clowney and the Browns met on March 24. There was mutual interest on both sides even though no contract was agreed upon, so a second meeting comes as no surprise.

It is significant the Browns and Clowney are getting together so close to the NFL draft. Signing the first-overall pick in 2014 before the three-day draft begins April 29 would likely affect their draft strategy, especially in the early rounds.

Likewise, if this meeting also ends without an agreement it could mean a Browns-Clowney marriage isn’t in the cards.

The Browns pursued Clowney when he was a free agent in 2020, but he turned them down and signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans.

He played in eight games before a knee injury ended his season.

Clowney did not register a sack last season, but with 28 pressures he tied Melvin Ingram of the Los Angeles Chargers in the obscure Pro Football Focus category of “Most QB pressures without a sack.”

The Browns are looking for a defensive end to play opposite Myles Garrett. They signed Takkarist McKinley in free agency last month, but are looking for more; Olivier Vernon, the starter opposite Garrett last year, is a free agent recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He is not in the Browns’ plans for 2021 at the moment.

Clowney has played in 83 of a possible 112 games in his seven NFL seasons — five seasons with the Texans, one with the Seahawks and one with the Titans. He has 32 career sacks. He had 9.5 sacks with the Texans in 2017 and nine more a year later. He made the Pro Bowl each year from 2016-18.

Pass rushers always get the spotlight, but Clowney’s real strength at defensive end is as a run defender.

“Since 2014, he has been a 95th-percentile run defender at the position, using his elite physical tools to wreak havoc on opposing offensive lines at the point of attack,” Pro Football Focus wrote. “The only players to rank higher than Clowney as a run defender over those seven years are Calais Campbell (Ravens), William Hayes (Dolphins), Khalil Mack (Bears) and J.J. Watt. Watt, now with the Arizona Cardinals, had his access with the Texans.”