BEREA — Late in the 2022 season, Jadeveon Clowney pulled the pin and rolled the proverbial grenade through the meeting room in Browns headquarters where defensive linemen gather.
Yet, Browns general manager Andrew Berry said before the second full-squad practice of training camp on Thursday, July 30, he is “hopeful” the franchise can sign Clowney after the veteran free agent visited team brass on Wednesday, July 29.
It’s a puzzling stance, and Berry should pass on a reunion with Clowney.
The 33-year-old Clowney can still produce at this stage of his career. He registered 8.5 sacks in 13 games with the Dallas Cowboys last season, and the Browns need some oomph from their D-end pass rush opposite Jared Verse as they adjust to life without Myles Garrett, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in two of the past three years.
However, if the Browns were to sign Clowney, they would be rewarding a player whose previous tenure with the organization ended with him proving to be a bad teammate. They would be sending the wrong message to a young locker room about the value of culture and accountability.
Frustrated with the way the coaching staff had used him, Clowney refused to play on first or second down during a 23-20 loss at the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 23, 2022, former Cleveland defensive line coach Chris Kiffin said in January 2023.
Then in the week preceding the Browns’ 2022 season finale at the Pittsburgh Steelers, Clowney took shots at the coaching staff in an interview with Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, criticizing what he perceived to be preferential treatment of Garrett because of the way the scheme was designed and matchups were created.
“You’re all trying to get [Garrett] into the Hall of Fame instead of winning games,” Clowney told Cabot then. “I don’t even think [Garrett] notices. I ain’t trying to say it’s him. I try to get along with everybody I play with. Me and him don’t have a problem. It ain’t his fault, and it’s B.S., and I don’t have time for it.”
What else contributed to Clowney’s boycott of first and second down at the Ravens earlier the same season? Lining up across from left tackle Ronnie Stanley when Clowney didn’t expect the assignment.
“We practiced all week, and we get in the game and they want to move me. I’m not doing that s***. I’m old. I done my job. I don’t have time for that,” Clowney told Cabot. “I’ve made my money. I’m doing this because I love the game, but keep [doing things like that] and making me not love the game.”
Clowney’s comments resulted in discipline. The Browns sent him home from work two days before their last game of the 2022 season, and they didn’t bring him to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Jan. 8, 2023.
Kiffin and Joe Woods, the Browns’ defensive coordinator in 2022, are long gone, and Kevin Stefanski is at the helm of the Atlanta Falcons, not the Browns. You may have heard, but just in case you have not, the Browns traded Garrett on June 1 to the Los Angeles Rams for Verse and draft picks.
So, the main Browns figures with whom Clowney could have had beef are no longer with the team.
Clowney played for the Ravens in 2023, when new Browns coach Todd Monken served as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator. Monken said he’s “a big fan” of Clowney after getting “a feel for his personality and how he was with his teammates” in Baltimore.
The Browns are using those factors and Clowney’s production last season to rationalize their desire to bring him back to Cleveland, where the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft played from 2021-22.
“Reconciliation is possible in life, and I don’t subscribe to the notion of defining people by really their worst or best moment, but, in this case, a moment of weakness,” Berry said. “He made a mistake. It’s something you talk through. We’ve maintained a good relationship with JD really since 2022.
“We had him for two years, and it was certainly a lot more positives than negatives despite how it ended. So, we do feel comfortable bringing him back into the organization, if it’s the right fit on both sides.”
Cleveland’s GM since 2020, Berry is correct about the concept of forgiveness, and there is nothing wrong with the Browns wishing Clowney well. They should wish him well elsewhere, though, after his jealousy of Garrett led him to blatantly prioritize himself over the team. Clowney is reportedly receiving interest from the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks, too.
When the Browns traded Garrett, they embraced a rebuild to a notable degree, but by extending the contracts of cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Grant Delpit in recent days, Berry showed he is stopping short of completely immersing the roster in a youth movement.
“When you have Denzel and Grant, who are top-level players and top-level people, they end up being kind of like tent poles within your organization and within your roster,” Berry said. “… They’re what we want in the organization.”
For what seem like obvious reasons, Clowney should not meet the same definition.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns should pass on Jadeveon Clowney reunion | Opinion
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
