It was on cutdown Saturday in 2019 that Jadeveon Clowney officially became a Seahawk, Seattle pulling off a trade with Houston that barely beat the 1 p.m. roster deadline.
It was on cutdown Saturday in 2020 that Clowney officially became a former Seahawk, again in a move that went down to the wire, Clowney finally agreeing to a deal with the Tennessee Titans late Saturday night.
Clowney agreed to a one-year deal reported to be worth at least $12 million with incentives that could push it to $15 million.
He also seriously considered an offer from the New Orleans Saints, who, as revealed in an NFL.com story Sunday afternoon, went to extreme lengths to try to get him. In an attempt to try to create the cap space to fit him, the Saints were apparently trying to work out a deal with the Cleveland Browns to have the Browns sign Clowney, then trade a second-round pick as well as a player to Cleveland.
In exchange for the pick and the player, the Browns would have been on the hook for $5 million of Clowney's $15 million salary.
The NFL apparently nixed the idea with the league not wanting to set a precedent of a team basically making a trade for cash and cap space.
So, Clowney heads to Tennessee with the Titans officially announcing the deal Sunday morning.
The Seahawks were said to have been in contact with Clowney throughout, with NFL reporter Josina Anderson tweeting that the Seahawks were "calling late" into the night.
But the general portrayal is that by Saturday it was pretty much a two-team race between the Saints (Clowney had dinner with head coach Sean Payton Friday night) and the Titans.
As reported by Anderson, Clowney said one reason he chose the Titans was "familiarity," meaning a return to being coached by Mike Vrabel, now the head coach at Tennessee and the former Texans linebackers coach and defensive coordinator from 2014-17 when Clowney had seasons of nine and 9.5 sacks.
The Titans also apparently told Clowney that if all goes well, they'll maybe try to re-sign him to a richer and longer deal a year from now.
Of course, that was the thought a year ago when the Seahawks traded for him with the hope that it was the beginning of a long-term relationship.
That it ended after a year will continue to raise questions. So for one last time as Clowney's Seattle tenure officially becomes history, here's an attempt at some answers:
