With all of the additions the Cleveland Browns made this offseason, it can be easy to forget about Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney has all of the name recognition as the first overall pick in his NFL draft class but his on-the-field stock hasn’t lived up to that, yet.
One of the biggest reasons for that is that Clowney has struggled, throughout his career, to stay on the field. Clowney has only played a full 16 game season once and has missed three or more games in four of his seven seasons in the league.
Clowney reported that he was feeling good after his first minicamp practice with the Browns but his health will always be something to be monitored given his history.
Talking to the media, the former Texan, Seahawk and Titan talked about the different defenses he has been in and what he is looking forward to with Cleveland.
“Even in Seattle, I probably had one of my highest rushing-percentage rate when I was going forward the whole game and was not thinking that much,” the new Brown said. “Playing up front, hand in the ground is a lot easier and less thinking.”
Starting his career in Houston, Clowney was asked to drop into coverage much more often than it seems he preferred. With the Browns, except for rare occasions, Clowney will be moving forward, rushing the passer and attacking the running backs.
With Myles Garrett on the other side, Clowney is in the best position to succeed in his career. Now all he has to do is stay on the field where he gets to go forward a majority of the time and not have to drop into coverage.