Jadeveon Clowney is truly delusional if he continues to decline Browns short-term offer

Yes, the Browns lowballed Jadeveon Clowney with a short-term offer, but he’d be better served to just take it and save face.

Former No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney is waiting around for an offer that doesn’t exist.

With COVID-19 limiting the number of in-house visits from this year’s NFL free agent class, Clowney should seriously consider the short-term offers he’s getting. If he’s truly as capable as his contract demands suggest he is, banking on himself in back-to-back contract years could pay dividends beyond what he’s seeking in the 2020 offseason.

Clowney, alongside Myles Garrett in Cleveland, would put up monster numbers, leading to the long-term deal he’s seeking. He’ll just have to wait for it.

The Browns low-balled Jadeveon Clowney again, but this time he should take the bait.

Clowney finished last season with just three sacks. He hasn’t played a complete 16-game slate since 2017. While he remains a force off the EDGE, he needs his statistics to reflect his QB pressures, and finishing the likes of Lamar Jackson, Ben Roethlisberger and rookie Joe Burrow behind the line would provide prospective 2021 suitors with ample evidence that he’s worth the deal he seeks.

For now, though, the skepticism is relatively warranted, especially in a cautious market. The NFL season is scheduled to start on time now, but given the uncertainty of the times we live in, who knows if that will remain the case?

Assuming Clowney will give in to greedy owners in an offseason of uncertainty is a big ask, and one most players wouldn’t be willing to give in to. Clowney is 27 years old. Who knows how many chances he has left to cash in? And, due to the pure violence of the NFL game, the odds of finishing a season unscathed and in perfect health are slim. This is why the Clowney camp is holding firm.

Still, $15 million is no small number, and to collect just below market value after holding out all offseason for a deal that doesn’t exist is relying on pure fiction. At this point, Clowney has to scrape the bottom of the barrel.