Detroit Lions: 3 remaining free agents to avoid signing this offseason
By Bob Heyrman
DE/EDGE: Jadeveon Clowney
Steering clear of Jadeveon Clowney is more about the widely gifted super star’s spotty effort on the football field combined with the massive salary he’s seeking. It’s difficult to justify paying an edge rusher upwards of $17-million per season when said player has never once in his career compiled double-digit sacks in a single season.
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Think about that, Clowney playing the majority of his career opposite J.J. Watt was never able to generate ten or more sacks once in his career? Watt is regularly double-teamed, leaving Clowney to be singled up on the opposite side.
Sure, Watt’s suffered plenty of injuries throughout his career, leaving Clowney doubled-up, but he’s still talented enough to split double-teams and get after the quarterback.
Last season with the Seattle Seahawks, Clowney recorded a whopping three sacks and totaled just 31 combined tackles. Clowney’s most productive year came back in 2017 when he recorded 9.5 sacks and combined on 59 tackles.
With Seattle, Clowney produced an incredible overall rating of 87.3 according to PFF last season. Clowney received credit for 48 total pressures despite only getting home three times. He’ll always have the potential to be a game-wrecking threat, but his spotty effort on film is extremely worrisome to me.
The 27-year old entered the offseason considered as the largest name on the market, and oddly enough remains unsigned. Clowney’s original asking price was north of $20-million per season after COVID-19 caused havoc on the world, his price has weakened to around $17-million per season, but that’s still much too rich for my liking.
I’d much rather see the Detroit Lions sign someone like Griffen at say, $12-million over a two-year deal rather than even $15-million (which is low) for Clowney over a long-term contract.
Next. Lions: 3 free agents to sign considering limited offseason. dark
The Detroit Lions currently have the cap space to sign Clowney to a deal. Still, I expect Detroit to refrain from making a huge splash with the 2021 salary cap potentially froze next season with the uncertainty moving forward this season due to COVID-19. The Lions also need to extend budding-star receiver Kenny Golladay before the beginning of next season.