Jadeveon Clowney

The New York Giants learned that offensive lineman Nate Solder would pause his NFL career for one season on Wednesday morning. Solder cited his family issues and the battle with cancer his son has gone through the past few years as a primary factor. With his justifiable decision and putting his family first, the Giants will move forward with the talent they already have on the roster.

Drafting both Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart should provide them with enough tackle depth for 2020.

However, Solder opting out of his contract opens up $19.5 million in cap space. The Giants could elect to spend it or hypothetically roll it over to the 2021 season. One player that has been connected to New York for quite some time is Jadeveon Clowney, formally of the Seattle Seahawks.

Should the New York Giants sign Jadeveon Clowney on a one-year deal?

Argument for:

Signing Clowney would be expensive for the Giants, as he will command at least $14 million per season. The expectation is he wants to join a contending team on a long-term deal, but in the NFL, nothing is guaranteed. He could cash in for one season, and gain exponential reps, utilizing them to catapult him forward. When free agency originally started, he was asking for money in the $20-22 million range, but he has since tempered his expectations.

He would fit perfectly in the Giants’ 3-4 base game. With Patrick Graham taking over, gaining a premium level pass rusher would only help his transition to the Giants. Scheming a pass rush is the most probable course of action, without proven commodities at the outside linebacker position.

The issue with Clowney is that he’s never reached double-digit sacks in his career. He puts consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks and locks down running backs on his edge, but simply just doesn’t tally up the numbers in the sack category. When you compare that to a player like Markus Golden, who expected to sign a more lucrative deal after posting 10.0 sacks in 2019, we can come to the conclusion that it is an overrated start to a degree.

Over his past four seasons, he has earned at least 13 quarterback hits, with a high of 21. His low of 13 came in 2019 when he played in just 13 games over 57% of defensive stats. That is 300 less than he experienced in Houston in 2018. He was also playing defensive end compared to outside linebacker.

Ultimately, Clowney has the ability to shut down an entire side of the defensive line, and he would only benefit the Giants’ defense.

Why the New York Giants must stay far away from Jadeveon Clowney:

One of the more problematic units for the New York Giants heading into the 2020 season is their pass rush. Prior to placing a free agent tender on Markus Golden, which still doesn’t guarantee he will remain with the team for their future campaign, the Giants were heavily looking into Jadeveon Clowney, formally of the Seattle Seahawks.

Interestingly enough, Clowney remains available on the free-agent market, but most teams are not willing to part with the money he is asking for. General manager Dave Gettleman is focused on lower priced options, like Kyler Fackrell, who had a stellar 2018 campaign but fell into a secondary role in 2019.

Only a few months ago Clowney mentioned he would be open to joining New York, but he was more interested in playoff contending teams. He was reportedly seeking a deal upwards of $20 million per season, and no team has been willing to bite at that price point.

Ultimately, if Golden fails to sign elsewhere, he will earn 110% of his 2019 salary, which comes out to about $5 million. That is a steal for a player who recorded double digit sacks last season and has experience with some of the younger players currently on the roster. While Golden doesn’t match up with Clowney in terms of overall influence, he will serve a greater purpose in lowering their cap hit and giving them the freedom to look elsewhere in 2021.

Clowney most recently rejected an offer from the Cleveland Browns, as he believes his worth is far more significant. Even the Philadelphia Eagles have taken a shot at landing him, but it seems he is keen on waiting it out until he gets a bigger deal. Injuries are frequent in the NFL and eventually, a team will have to cough up the dough. Hopefully, it is not the Giants who have to do so.

It is also important to mention that the Giants will be looking to bolster their team with available cap next season, and signing Clowney on a multi-year deal worth potentially over $15 million per season, which would significantly hinder their ability to sign free agents. The 2020 season is meant to continue their rebuild, as the team is not in a prime position to contend for a playoff berth. With that being said, looking to the draft or free agency next year might be more practical.

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.

At the start of free agency, many believed the New York Giants could help fix their pass rush by bringing in Seahawks outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, who came into the league with much hype but is looking for a different team after Seattle decided not to bring him back – specifically because of Clowney producing only a third of the sacks that he did in his last season in Houston.

However, Clowney’s reported price tag is likely what caused the Giants to look for other options. Clowney’s desired $20,000,000 per year would have made him the highest paid player on the team and a multi-year deal would disrupt the cap situation for the Giants for years to come. Because of that, the talk about Clowney to the Giants died down as free agency began. There’s more of an expectation of the Giants drafting an outside linebacker at this point.

Free agency has continued since the rumors died down, though, and Clowney still hasn’t been signed. Could this failure to find a new team show Clowney that he’s asking for too much, and convince him to lower his price tag for the Giants? According to the New York Post, Clowney’s opinions may indeed have changed.

Sources told The Post the Giants have expressed interest in Clowney, who started off asking for $20 million per year on a multi-year contract, but has found a surprisingly depressed market five days into free agency. He reportedly is open to a high-paying short-term deal with a chance to reenter free agency when the salary cap skyrockets next season.

The New York Post article suggests the dramatic move of rescinding the franchise tag from Leonard Williams and exchanging Williams for Clowney on a one year deal.

Would Clowney be a good prospect for the Giants to pursue? Potentially, but such a decision shouldn’t be made lightly – it’s unknown exactly how much Clowney wants right now and whether that’s enough money to warrant shutting down the idea of a deal and spending it on other players instead.

Additionally, the Giants aren’t going to be contenders this year barring a miracle, and therefore aren’t at the stage of team building when signing rental players for a high cost for one year is worth it. Even if Clowney won’t affect the cap beyond one year, it’s still money that the Giants could spend on other players who will build the team up more long term for the future.

All in all, the chances here likely depend on what kind of deal the Giants want, but regardless, the team should be careful – the Giants don’t need to be in ‘win now’ mode right now, after all.