Joe Douglas has proven to be the antithesis of Mike Maccagnan in his first free agency as the Jets’ general manager.

Douglas spent frugally instead of lavishly, handed out short-term contracts instead of multi-year deals and kept the guaranteed monies to a minimum. Douglas employed his strategy of being “disciplined financially” to ensure “flexibility in the draft” flawlessly and left the Jets with about $32 million in cap space after the March spending spree subsided.

But Douglas could throw away that plan with one signing.

The Jets still have a pretty big need to fill at edge rusher with arguably the top free agent at that position still available: Jadeveon Clowney. He remains unsigned for a reason, though, as he once sought upwards of $20 million per year in a new deal after his lone season with the Seahawks.

With questions surrounding Clowney’s health and production, he’s lowered his contract demands to $17-18 million per year, according to ESPN’s Dianna Russini. That is still a lot of money to dedicate to one player and it would be a complete 180-degree change from Douglas’ prudent spending. That didn’t stop the Jets from looking into Clowney, though, as Douglas admitted to reporters Wednesday.

“We’re going to do our due diligence on everybody that’s out there, especially at the edge-rushing position,” Douglas said. “I’m not going to get into the specifics or the details of the conversations we’ve had.”

The Jets checked in with Clowney’s agent at some point this offseason but it would be a shock if the Jets splurged on him. Douglas refused to get into a bidding war for the services of offensive tackle Jack Conklin and pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. this spring, and it’s unlikely he’d break the bank for someone as inconsistent as Clowney.

There is no doubt Clownery is a fantastic edge rusher.  He’s touted as one of the most physically-gifted young defenders in the NFL at only 27 years old and has the 11th-best overall Pro Football Focus grade of his positions since 2017. Clowney is worth top-dollar, but not for his production at rushing the quarterback.

The biggest misconception about Clowney is his pass-rushing prowess. While he’s one of the most ferocious edge defenders in the NFL, he’s actually a better run defender than sack artist. 

His three-sack total in 2019 isn’t so much an indictment of his ability as it is an argument for his actual strength as a run-stopper. Clowney’s 91.3 Pro Football Focus grade against the run over the past three season ranks third at his position compared to his 83.9 pass-rush grade, which is 25th over that same span. Over the past two seasons, Clowney tallied 51 run stops, 27 tackles for a loss, an average depth of tackle of 0.76 yards and his run-defense grade finished second behind only Calais Campbell since 2018. 

Clowney’s 29 sacks from 2015-2018 are impressive, but if you break down the numbers a little more and compare it to the rest of the league it doesn’t paint a consistent picture for him. Since 2018, Clowney’s pressure rate of 11.7 percent ranked 43rd at edge rusher and he’s never finished with more than 64 total pressures in a season. While Clowney’s 2019 stats look terrible compared to his previous seasons, he also only played in 605 snaps compared to the 845 snaps he averaged over the previous three years with the Texans. So despite finishing the season with 18 fewer pressures in 2019 than he had in 2018, Clowney’s pressures per snap only dropped from 0.8 per snap to 0.65. 

There’s also the health concerns that come with signing Clowney. He’s only finished a 16-game season once in his career – 2017 – and will be coming off core muscle surgery he had in February. Clowney also suffered knee and hip injuries throughout the 2019 season which caused him to miss three games.

There a lot of intangibles that come with having Clowney on the field – from intimidation to sheer power to the possibility of blowing up an offensive play at any moment. But if the Jets are willing to give up at least $17 million on an edge rusher, they need to make sure he’s consistent, durable and will actually get to the quarterback. Clowney is a phenomenal defender and will make any team better in 2020, but he isn’t worth as much money as he’s looking for, especially for a team that still has other needs to fill and limited resources. 

The Jets absolutely need help with their pass rush, and while bringing back Jordan Jenkins is nice, he isn’t enough. The Jets would be better served using whatever money they would have paid Clowney on two or three pass rushers instead of one. Veterans like Markus Golden and Vinny Curry individually had better seasons than Clowney in 2019 and would be great additions to the Jets defense.

Clowney is a luxury signing the Jets don’t need. Maybe the Jets of old would have paid a premium for him, but the new regime led by Douglas surely won’t be so foolish.