You might not have heard the news recently, but the Carolina Panthers moved on from veteran defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. He signed to a two-year, $20 million contract with the Panthers after having a strong season with the Baltimore Ravens and he won’t be seeing the second season.
Clowney is easily one of the most notable defensive free agents in the NFL right now. The Seattle Seahawks memorably traded for Clowney in 2019, and while he recorded three sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and two fumble returns for touchdowns, the Seahawks opted not to retain his services.
Since leaving the Houston Texans, Clowney has become a journeyman. He’s been on five teams dating back to 2019 and his time with the Cleveland Browns ended very poorly. When he joined the Ravens in 2023, Clowney had a career-best 9.5 sacks in Mike Macdonald’s defense and was part of Baltimore’s No. 1 ranked unit.
In Carolina, Clowney had 5.5 sacks through 14 games, as well as four passes defensed and 11 QB hits. The Panthers defense was terrible but it doesn’t look like he was a major reason for it. Carolina is looking to get younger and open up some cap space, so Clowney was evidently a cap casualty.
Do you want the Seahawks to beef up their defensive line some more and bring back Clowney? He has past ties to Mike Macdonald and presumably that’s the strongest argument in favor of signing him. With Derick Hall, Boye Mafe, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Uchenna Nwosu all on the depth chart, Clowney wouldn’t have to be relied upon as a primary pass-rusher/run-stopper like Seattle expected in 2019.
The flip side, which the position where I stand, is that he’s 32 years old with a very deep history of injuries that have caused him to miss time. I’d rather see that playing time allocated to the players on the roster right now. It also seems peculiar that for as much as Clowney is lauded for his disruptive pass rushing (despite the lack of a high volume of sacks) and ability to stop the run, he has been repeatedly bouncing from team to team over the past several seasons regardless of his salary.
I don’t want Clowney back and don’t really see a “take a flyer” justification for him, either. But maybe you think otherwise and see his success with Macdonald as reason to try and bolster Seattle’s defensive depth even more. Chat away in the comments!
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