Cleveland has been a place synonymous with struggling NFL teams for decades now. Seemingly in and endless rebuild it's no surprise anyone still thinks this way about them but the talent level on this roster teamed with promising coaches will allow this talent to shine. Cleveland went 6-10 last season but lost 4 games by 7 points or less last year. 4 games is the difference between 10-6 and 6-10. Jadeveon Clowney is essentially telling the world he doesn't believe he can be valuable enough to prevent 23 points in 16 games, even though heading to Cleveland would pair him with Myles Garrett, Sheldon Richardson, and Olivier Vernon. Quite the group of pass rushers. It would also aid the secondary where they have spent immense draft capitol with Greedy Williams, Denzel Ward, and Grant Delpit. They also signed Karl Joseph this offseason a former first round pick in his own right.
I understand his hesitation to sign with Cleveland, but he is only looking at the cover of the book without even reading the summary of the story. Joe Woods is the defensive coordinator in Cleveland after a stint as a coordinator in Denver. His reputation took a small hit as the Broncos defense started to regress but there were certainly other factors as well. The main thing that Clowney should take from the hiring of Woods is the fact that he strongly believes in tailoring his system to his players in an effort to use their strengths more often. This has helped him coach 7 different players to 13 probowls, It helped him lead two defenses to the Super Bowl in his first year both locations, and it helped him to develop what Denver dubbed the no fly zone. This man is a great coach who caught some bad breaks in 2018 with Denver and paid the price for it. However he immediately rebounded with a Superbowl trip with the 49ers. Woods came out and said he likely will be returning the 4-3 base defense that Cleveland ran in 2019. Clowney should be taking note of this, while he has primarily played as a 3-4 OLB in Houston last season Seattle used him more as a down lineman. A role I think fits his skillset much better. Clowney is the type of player you don't want wasting time in coverage as a LB, you want him rushing the passer as much as possible. He was not drafted 1st overall in 2015 as a DE for his ability in coverage. It's time he goes back to his roots as a DE permanently. With Vernon, Richardson, and Garrett also on the roster, Vernon and Ogunjobi would be the odd men out here left to fight for scraps of playing time. Richardson would be the starting NT, with Ogunjobi as the #2 tackle in the base defense with Clowney and Garrett on the outside. In passing situations they were already shifting Garrett inside at times taking Ogunjobi off the field makes sense in these situations, as you still want a nose tackle that can two gap next to Garrett. This is where Vernon comes in at end opposite of Clowney, almost like a nascar package.
There is also the outside chance the Browns see a re for Clowney at times as a stand up LB as well. Maybe in run situations you see Clowney as an OLB, with Garrett and Vernon in at DE, and Richardson/Ogunjobi at DT. In this situation you would likely remove the starting SAM linebacker and slide Clowney in there with your regular MIKE, and WILL linebackers in order to keep some athleticism on the field. Either way having 5 starting caliber D-Lineman can help Clowney produce at a higher level. If you look back at Clowney's time in Houston he quite literally played every position in the front 7 except nose tackle. Adding a guy like that to this already stout front 4 that can add yet another pass rushing threat attacking from different angles would only take this defense and clowney to the next level.
Ultimately I think Clowney should strongly reconsider their offer.
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