NFL Trade Rumors
Carolina caught some people off guard when it released DE Jadeveon Clowney after the draft, but upon further reflection, it was a move that made a lot of sense. The Panthers double-dipped at edge rusher in both the draft and free agency, and Clowney was due $10 million this upcoming season. With all the other moves, it made sense to go younger.
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Clowney couldn’t single-handedly prevent the Panthers from finishing as the league’s worst defense last year but he did his part. He was probably one of their top three players on that side of the ball, pulling down 5.5 sacks to tie for the team lead and holding up decently in run defense. Clowney made it clear after he was cut he still thinks he has gas in the tank, and the tape last year would back that up.
The veteran pass rusher’s next team will be his seventh and he’s become accustomed to mercenary life in the NFL. The last team he played more than two consecutive seasons for was the Texans who drafted him with the No. 1 pick. Look for Clowney to catch on with the highest bidder at some point in late August when training camp is done.
He’ll make $2 million no matter what, as that’s how much the Panthers still owed him in guarantees, but there’s a strong chance Clowney will be looking to top that, as anything up to that number would be subject to offsets. There are plenty of teams that still need help at pass rusher, so he should have a quality market. He might not get back to the $10 million he was set to make in 2025, but something in the $4 to $8 million range seems realistic.
Clowney, 32, is a former No. 1 overall pick of the Texans back in 2014. He was in the final year of his four-year, $22.272 million contract when the Texans picked up his fifth-year option, which paid him $12.306 million for the 2018 season.
Houston franchised Clowney before trading him to the Seahawks at the start of the regular season in 2019. It took until September in 2020 for him to sign a one-year deal worth up to $15 million with the Titans.
Clowney signed with the Browns on one-year deals in 2021 and 2022, the second worth $11 million. He caught on with the Ravens in 2023 on another one-year deal before joining the Panthers last offseason on a two-year contract. However, Carolina released him after one season.
In 2024, Clowney appeared in and started 14 games for the Panthers and recorded 46 tackles, 5.5 sacks and four pass deflections.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.
Money has proven to be the chief motivator for Clowney but there have been some notable connections that have cropped up over the course of his 11-year career. One is with Patriots HC Mike Vrabel, who was Clowney’s...
