Matt Loede
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Though they won 11 regular season games and one playoff game last season, Cleveland’s defense wasn’t very good. So, the team has been aggressive this offseason signing some players on defense they think can help them.
Between discussions last year and now a visit this year, the Cleveland Browns have spent an awful long time considering free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Clowney remains out of reach for the Browns for some reason, and like most business deals, it likely involves the almighty dollar .
It could seem like the Browns have a bit of an obsession with signing Clowney, but according to Cleveland.com’s Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot, that’s not the case.
“I think the Browns would like to sign him if he’s healthy and if the price is right,” Cabot wrote.
“If he’s fully recovered from his surgically-repaired torn meniscus, he can be a force off the edge for the Browns, both in terms of disrupting the quarterback and stopping the run.”
Last year, Clowney spoke to the Browns but wound up signing a deal with the Tennessee Titans, who made it to the postseason as the AFC South Champs.
The Titans have already cut ties with Clowney and inked free agent pass rusher Bud Dupree from the Steelers this offseason instead.
If Cleveland remains interested in Clowney, he won’t come cheap. Last year, he inked a one-year deal that cost the Titans $13 million.
Cleveland would likely want a multi-year deal if Clowney is interested in signing with them.
I have performed an in-depth analysis of the potential this move could have for the Browns. Here is my assessment. Cleveland should take all the money they were thinking about spending on Clowney, pile it up, pour gasoline on it, and set it on fire in the parking lot. That would have potentially more ROI than signing Clowney, after watching him contribute nothing all last year as a Titans fan. Overrated doesn’t begin to describe his play. I wouldn’t sign this guy to play special teams.