Welp, the Philadelphia Eagles definitely aren’t signing Jadeveon Clowney now

Jadeveon Clowney definitely isn’t signing with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Welp, cross another name off of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ free agency wish list – if he was ever even on it at all.

That’s right, if recent reports are to be believed, it sounds like the Cleveland Browns offered a ton of money to Jadeveon Clowney by extending a contract worth close to his $20 million a year asking price, but even that wasn’t enough to get a deal done.

In a way, I’m almost impressed with Clowney’s resilience.

More from Philadelphia Eagles

For a small segment of the Eagles’ fanbase, Clowney has been the ultimate free-agency white whale. He’s a big, fast, strong former first-overall pick with intense name recognition and a perceived eliteness when it comes to collapsing the pocket. Granted, there’s another, much larger segment of the Philadelphia population who hates Clowney with a passion for what he did to Carson Wentz in the playoffs back in January – the feeling is reportedly mutual – but in a twisted way, that should-have-been-flagged-play has created a regular cult of personality around the former Texans/Seahawks edge rusher.

In the words of ‘Roll Safe‘, Clowney can’t concuss your quarterback if he’s teammates with your quarterback.

If Clowney’s market had dried up post-draft, there was a world where some fans had hoped that the two parties could put their differences aside, link up, and form the ultimate bull-rushing, pocket collapsing Zoltron. In theory, that could still happen, but it’s a near financial impossibility.

As you may or may not know, the Eagles currently have the fourth most available salary-cap space in the league at roughly $24 million. So again, theoretically speaking, the Eagles could just offer Clowney that entire sum, outplay the Browns by a few million, and secure the 27-year-old’s services for the 2020 season, right? Not so fast, my friends. While the Eagles have money to burn in 2020, they are beyond underwater in 2021, where they rank dead last with an astounding negative $50 million in the hole, with a potential hit even worse depending on how the cap fluctuates due to a lack of fans at football games (more on that here). By rolling as much of that $24 million over into 2021, the Eagles can effectively half their outstanding debts and make things a whole lot easier to manage with a few choice contract restructurings.

So even if the Eagles wanted to go all-in on Clowney in 2020 for a probably misguided title shot, there would be no way of retaining his services past the season without shedding some seriously talented players on big-money deals.

If the Eagles want to bring another veteran pass rusher into camp this fall, why not just bring back Vinny Curry? He had almost twice as many sacks than Clowney in 2019 on almost half as many snaps while also providing value as an interior rusher on obvious passing downs. Furthermore, if Howie Roseman is set on adding a former Seahawk, Jim Schwartz draftee Ezekial Ansah is also still available and could be had for five percent of Clowney’s asking price.

From Clay Matthews to Cameron Wake, Jabal Shepard, and even Everson Griffen, there are a ton of edge rushers still available on the open market who could put up comparable or better numbers than Clowney in 2020 for a fraction of the price. As many football minds smarter than me will tell you ‘it’s about the production not the name on the jersey’.

Where will Jadeveon Clowney ultimately play this fall? Honestly, beats me. If optimizing his earnings potential is priority number one than the Browns appear to be the highest bidder, but then again, I can understand not wanting to live in Cleveland because, well, it’s Cleveland. That being said, it’s pretty much safe to say Clowney won’t be suiting up in midnight green later this fall as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, as his desired asking price is just too rich for the Birds’ blood.