The New York Giants have been mentioned by analysts as a landing spot for Jadeveon Clowney, but so far, there’s many reasons why the deal doesn’t work as well as some might think. The primary reason is cost – Clowney is asking for more than any team right now is willing to pay, and the Giants are one of the ones that have passed on signing Clowney for that reason. However, there’s also other reasons at play making teams reluctant to make a move for Clowney.
One of those reasons is Clowney’s health, which hasn’t been perfect throughout his career to this point, and has been one of the factors holding his career back. According to SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano, the Giants are one of the teams that have considered Clowney but are reluctant because of his injury history. This has also supposedly impacted Clowney’s chances with the Jets.
Many teams — the Giants included, per sources — are very wary of making a big-money commitment to a player with that kind of injury history. Presumably that has factored into the Jets’ thinking as well.
The Giants would indeed have to commit big money to Clowney if they wanted to bring him in to replace top pass rusher Markus Golden, who the team is unlikely to come to an agreement with if recent reports are accurate. That commitment would come to the tune of at least 17 million, which would make Clowney one of the highest paid players on the team.
To make the situation worse for a potential deal, any agreement is likely to be a short term one that would see the Giants effectively rent Clowney for a short time – rather than signing a long term deal, Clowney is likely to seek a one year contract and look for a bigger deal after the salary cap increases.
All of these red flags combined with the fact that the Giants don’t need rental players at this stage in their rebuilding process means that whatever chance there was of Clowney becoming a Giant is likely gone by now – and it may be for the better.
The Giants do need help in their pass rush, and it’s unclear if Kyler Fackrell is the answer. However, one thing that the team doesn’t need is an under-producing and overpaid player who may end up leaving the next season rather than staying around for the rebuilding process. All of those things, unfortunately, are things that describe Clowney.