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The Miami Dolphins made about as serious of a run as you could possibly make at Jadeveon Clowney back in August. The Dolphins, who ended up trading Laremy Tunsil to Houston without Clowney involved, reportedly went as far as to meet with the former number one overall selection to help sell him on the process here in South Florida. Clowney, as we all know, wanted to play for a contender and flexed his leverage on the situation to help axe a potential deal to Miami.
Now?
The standout pass rusher is currently without a team — still on the free agent market and awaiting a team to swoop in and offer him the kind of cash that he’s looking for in his next contract. He might be waiting a while. Clowney reportedly aimed to “reset the market” for pass rush contracts; he’s finding his market is no where near as hot as what he’d anticipated.
So, should the Dolphins circle back to Clowney? This team still has needs in the pass rush department and inking Clowney would provide them with the exciting chess piece they envisioned having back in the summer. Miami still has ample cash and would have little issue taking on a contract with Clowney if they decided they wanted it. Is this something that would make sense for the Dolphins?
Probably not. Clowney’s physical gifts would certainly be a big boost to Miami’s pass rush, but he struggled through his season in Seattle with lingering issues — hardly the first time in his career that Clowney has had durability issues. And with Clowney looking for crazy money, the Dolphins would need to be 100% certain where he’s at medically and even then the team runs the risk of burning through their plethora of salary cap space in short order.
The Dolphins want to be aggressive, but they also want to be responsible. Signing Clowney after all of the team’s big spending this past week would feel a bit too much like being prisoners of the moment. The Dolphins have dropped their big dominoes on the open market and, unless Clowney’s market continues to shrink, he’s probably out of the team’s price point for what would be responsible to drop on another big name.