Can Clowney stay on field long enough to give Browns a boost?
The Cleveland Browns were serious about upgrading their pass rush.
On Wednesday, the NFL team confirmed it has signed the 2014 No. 1 overall draft pick, Jadeveon Clowney, reportedly for up to US$10 million for one year.
The Browns' theory is that this talent-dripping 28-year-old can form a lethal edge-rushing combo along with the 2017 No. 1 overall draft pick, Myles Garrett.
Arguably, no team in league history has ever fielded two pass rushers with more impressive top-shelf physical skills. Will it translate from theory to playing field? That hasn't been a problem for Garrett, but it sure has for Clowney.
Prior to the 2014 draft, then-nfl Network draft analyst Mike Mayock (now the Las Vegas Raiders' general manager) called Clowney “the most talented defensive lineman in the world.” Three years later, before the 2017 draft, Mayock said the team that drafts Garrett will get an “all-pro defensive end” if he plays as a pro as he did as a senior at Texas A&M before suffering a high-ankle sprain.
Fast-forward to today, and Garrett panned out, Clowney didn't. There's no other conclusion, so far, to draw.
Whereas Garrett in four seasons has 42.5 sacks, 83 QB hits and 10 forced fumbles in 51 games, Clowney in seven seasons has fewer sacks (32), slightly more QB hits (86) and fewer forced fumbles (nine) in 83 games.
Edge rushers are selected No. 1 overall to get to the quarterback, and Garrett has been far better at it than Clowney. Garrett's worst season total for sacks (7.0, as a rookie) would be the third best of Clowney's career, after 9.5 in 2017 and 9.0 in 2018 — Clowney's final two of five seasons in Houston.
But Clowney has way more tackles-for-loss (75 to Garrett's 45). Because most backfield tackles are typically made on ball-carrying running backs, Clowney sets a better edge as a rush defender than Garrett.
At his introductory news conference in Cleveland, Clowney said he has been “getting double-teamed an awful lot in this league, and in my career. I am looking forward to playing with somebody who is dominant on the opposite side.”
Perhaps Clowney forgot he played in Houston opposite J.J. Watt. The biggest reason for Clowney's unimpressive career stats are injuries, which have continually limited his production and availability.
In his rookie year alone Clowney suffered a sports hernia, concussion, knee meniscus tear, surgery (which had complications) and, at season's end, microfracture surgery on the painful cracks at the top of his right lower leg bone where it joins the knee. Over three of the next four years in Houston, Clowney kept missing games for various types of sprains and strains (ankle, Lisfranc, lumbar, elbow).
Most recently, his disappointing production in Seattle in 2019 following a trade there (three sacks) was largely the result of a lingering, significant core-muscle injury, which required surgery 14 months ago.
And after signing a one-year prove-it deal last September in Tennessee, he had zero sacks in eight games before another knee meniscus injury ended his season — and required more corrective surgery.
“I feel great now,” he said Wednesday. “I am looking forward to this season and prove to guys that I am back healthy.”