Cleveland Browns lowballed the hell out of Jadeveon Clowney
By Josh Hill
Jadeveon Clowney knows what he’s worth and isn’t going to take lowball offers that jeopardize his future paydays.
It seems egregious to call a $15 million payday a lowball offer, but not many people are Jadeveon Clowney.
The defensive end remains a free agent and appears no closer to signing a deal than he has been this entire offseason. Clowney’s unemployment isn’t for a lack of offers, as he’s reportedly received interest from a handful of teams from the Titans to the Seahawks.
According to Albert Breer, the Cleveland Browns are willing to offer Clowney $15 million for one season, which seems like a lot but is way under what the defensive end is asking for.
It’s an incredible moment where a dollar amount as massive as the one floated to Clowney is actually a lowball offer.
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Clowney seems to be his own worst enemy in free agency, but that’s an oversimplification of his struggle. After it was clear he wasn’t going to get the money he desired in Houston, Clowney forced a trade to Seattle that opened a path to get him exactly where he wants to be. Now that he’s here, though, the landscape isn’t what everyone thought it might be when the Texans traded him less than a year ago.
The plan was simple: Play on a one-year deal and then cash in on a huge free agent contract as one of the best defensive ends in the league. It’s not an original plan, as players across the decade and across sports leagues have traveled a similar path to a payday.
But Clowney didn’t have a tremendous year in Seattle, boasting the lowest sack total of his career and largely being an afterthought on the Seahawks defense. This coupled with an offseason that occurred in the middle of a global pandemic has drastically hurt Clowney’s market.
The offer from Cleveland’s perspective, however, would be a steal. To get Clowney, a premier pass rusher, for $15 million would be a bargain. The Browns are in the midst of a two-decade rebuild and have yet to truly establish themselves as a contender since returning to the league back in 1999. As with most seasons, this one feels like the one, as Baker Mayfield looks to bounce back from an awful sophomore slump and lead a talented team to the playoffs.
Adding Clowney to Cleveland’s defensive line would be a nightmare for opposing coordinators, as he’d join Myles Garrett and Oliver Vernon to form a Cleveland Cerberus.
It would put Clowney in the same position of risk he was in last season, though. Playing on a one-year contract is a gamble in which all it takes is one injury to forfeit millions of future dollars. While $15 million is an enormous offer to most players, most players are not on the level Clowney has reached and he deserves to be paid in full.