Jadeveon Clowney signs with Baltimore Ravens

Former Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney has finally found a new team, and he’s staying within the AFC North.

On Friday the Baltimore Ravens announced that the 2014 number one overall draft pick has joined the roster, having spent the previous two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. The contract is reportedly 1-year and a minimum of $2.5 million, with the potential to go as high as $6 million.

Seattle, of course, acquired Clowney from the Houston Texans in 2019 to help a defense that had just lost Frank Clark in a separate trade to the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in the offseason. Clowney showed flashes of brilliance in his lone season with the Seahawks, but the pass rush and run defense were both bad anyway.

Since Clowney left in free agency he has since been on four consecutive short-term contracts, including a stint with the Tennessee Titans in 2020 that ended with no sacks in eight games and a season-ending knee injury. After bouncing back with nine sacks in 2021, Clowney dipped to just two sacks and four QB hits in 2022, and an airing of grievances on the way out.

The Seahawks haven’t played against Clowney since the famous 41-38 shootout with the Houston Texans in 2017. That should change this year when the team travels to Baltimore on November 5. Baltimore typically has one of the fiercer defensive lines in the NFL, so if there’s any chance that Clowney can squeeze out meaningful productivity again, it might be with the Ravens. Ideally, none of that happens against Seattle.