Titans playing coy about Jadeveon Clowney adds intrigue, suspense
The Titans are playing coy about possibly signing Jadeveon Clowney.
Of the many things that no one could’ve predicted about the 2020 NFL offseason, the fact that Jadeveon Clowney — a player who many considered the best free agent on the market — remains unsigned as training camps are about to begin would be one of them. Yet, the Tennessee Titans may offer some potential for a soon arriving resolution.
The Titans have been connected to the free-agent pass-rusher for quite some time but, of course, nothing has materialized. However, Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson was asked if the organization had spoken to Clowney recently in an appearance on ESPN’s NFL Live. Robinson played it coyly, saying that he “may or may not” have talked with Clowney and his agent.
Robinson was frank in saying that the Titans would welcome the former Texan and Seahawks with open arms for his seventh NFL season. However, it’s entirely possible that the reason Tennessee hasn’t been able to ink Clowney yet is that they want to get him in their own building first. With training camp set to open up by July 28, though, that may offer an opportunity for Tennessee to finally make their move.
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In fact, everything that the Titans have done lately and the general part of the NFL offseason that we’re entering lends itself to the notion that Tennessee’s coy reaction is the precursor to signing the free agent.
Stars might be aligning for Jadeveon Clowney to end up on the Titans.
The other big bit of news out of Nashville in the past week has been Tennessee signing running back Derrick Henry to a long-term extension rather than forcing/allowing him to play on the franchise tag this season. In doing so, however, they freed up money to potentially make more high-impact moves.
As reported by ESPN’s Field Yates, the Titans will only have a $6 million cap hit from Henry’s new contract in the 2020 season. Subsequently, Robinson and the organization have roughly $24 million of space under the salary cap that they could use to make more signings, trades or otherwise.
As part of his four-year contract, Derrick Henry received a $12M signing bonus and will make $15M in cash this year, up from the $10.278M on the franchise tag.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 16, 2020
Tennessee also added $4.278M in cap space and now has over $24M to work with. Plenty of money to add more talent.
Jadeveon Clowney would obviously fit the bill there. Moreover, pairing him with Harold Landry, Vic Beasley Jr., Jeffery Simmons and several others would give Tennessee an absolutely fearsome group creating pressure up front.
Having said that, the unknown of the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term effects on the salary cap could lead the Titans to, instead, save that space and carry it over to next year as the cap could drop dramatically. That, in turn, would take Clowney out of play unless he’s willing to sign for pennies on the dollar — which is immensely unlikely.
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Reading the tea leaves, though, it does seem that there is something brewing in Tennessee right now and, with the Titans’ reported interest in Clowney since early in the offseason, that could mean that the free agent will ultimately end up in Nashville.