Looks like it’ll be Jadeveon Clowney or no one for the Browns

If the Cleveland Browns add an edge rusher, it looks like it’ll be Jadeveon Clowney or no one.

It’s past July 4 now, and Jadeveon Clowney remains available on the NFL free-agent market. The Cleveland Browns have lingered as a suitor and one that’s equipped to pay up to get him with over $37.2 million in cap space. If they want to add a defensive end, Everson Griffen also seems like a good fit who would come a lot cheaper.

But it appears it will be Clowney or no one if the Browns do add an edge rusher. According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (via Pro Football Rumors), fellow available edge rushers Griffen and Clay Matthews are not on the radar in Cleveland.

What can Jadeveon Clowney do for the Cleveland Browns?

Clowney had just three sacks for the Seattle Seahawks last year, and his career-high for sacks is 9.5 (with another nine-sack season). But he is consistently a darling of Pro Football Focus for his overall prowess as an edge rusher and run defender, and on the whole, sacks are pretty random.

A defensive end duo of Myles Garrett and Clowney would be among the best in the league automatically. The possible odd-man-out, Olivier Vernon, is coming off an injury-plagued down year (3.5 sacks), but he’s not exactly a stiff (four seasons with seven or more sacks in his career). But the Browns can cut Vernon between now and the first week of the season, and clear his entire $15.5 million cap hit.

Where Clowney will or wants to land is a question, with a return to the Seahawks a lingering possibility. The Tennessee Titans and New York Jets are also possibilities. If money ultimately talks the Browns can pony up more than anyone else, and they’ve been a rumored suitor for too long for something not to ultimately get done.