Titans acquire amazing, inconsistent force in Jadeveon Clowney

The Titans acquired prized free-agent pass-rusher Jadeveon Clowney. Which version of him are they getting?

Early Sunday morning, it was made about as official as it was going to get before it actually happened — edge-rusher Jadeveon Clowney intends to sign a one-year deal with the Titans that will pay him more than $12 million for the 2020 season.

So, we’re probably talking about a deal that gives the veteran a bit more than $12 million base, with up to $15 million if performance incentives are met. The wisdom of waiting to “cash in” in a 2021 season in which the salary cap is estimated to drop to $175 million per team due to 2020 revenue shortfalls is a separate matter, but we’ll see how that goes.

That aside, It’s a nice bump for a Titans team that made it all the way to the AFC Championship game without a true sack artists. Harold Landry led the team with nine sacks and 51 total pressures, and while Landry is a player on the rise, he hasn’t quite put it all together yet in a week-to-week-package. Lineman Jurrell Casey was the team’s second-best pass-rusher last season, but Casey was traded to Denver back in March. They’re also taking a one-year, $9.5 million flyer on former Falcons pass-rusher Vic Beasley, but Beasley hasn’t been That Guy since he led the NFL with 15.5 sacks in 2016.

The Titans did not name an official defensive coordinator to replace the legendary Dean Pees, who retired after the 2019 season. But outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen is one guy in charge of the pass rush, and one assumes head coach Mike Vrabel, whose history with Clowney has already been illustrated, will have a voice in how this all works as well.

The Texans, Clowney’s first NFL team, traded him to Seattle last September 1 as part of Bill O’Brien’s “Everything Must Go!!!” fire sale, and the estimation was that with the Seahawks, Clowney would be used less as a multi-gap “spinner,” and more as a pure edge defender.

“He’s a rare football player,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said after the deal was made. “He’s got special skills that most guys just don’t have – It’s great quickness, his reaction time, the length that he can use, his ability to run, his instincts. He’s made a lot of plays in the backfield over the years. Instinctive plays, penetrating and causing problems, and we plan to allow him to do that in our scheme. It’ll fit really well with what we’re doing. We saw a really great fit, whether it’s early downs or third down stuff. He’s pretty much got what you’re looking for.”

But what about the sacks, you may ask? Because when talking about what Clowney brings to the field, that always comes up. Over his six NFL seasons, Clowney has just 32 sacks. That’s less than half of the total Chandler Jones, who leads the league with 78.5 sacks from 2014 through 2019, has put up. You’re going to have a hard time convincing anyone who’s box score scouting that he’s worth more than $12 million for a season — I mean, Vic Beasley has 37.5 career sacks, and he was an afterthought in the Titans’ plans, at least in public perception.

And it’s not like Clowney’s total pressures reveal a top-tier effectiveness hidden in pedestrian sack totals, as is the case with some pass-rushers.

Clowney is a different cat. You have to watch the tape and hope you’ll get the guy making superhuman plays all over the place, as opposed to the Seahawks end who struggled at first in a new system, and faded down the stretch with a core injury. His official sack total was 4.5 including the postseason, and Pro Football Focus had him with 58 total pressures. Za’Darius Smith of the Packers led the league with 105 total pressures, so again, it isn’t as if Clowney’s sitting on some hidden statistical value.

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