Former Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril recently joined 710 ESPN Seattle to discuss the team’s impending decision on free-agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Avril commended Clowney for his 2019 season, in which he only recorded three sacks but made several impact plays and frequently pressured opposing quarterbacks.
“It’s probably the most impressive 3-sack season I’ve ever seen,” Avril said. “For a guy to have three sacks and then when you turn on the film, you see how disruptive he is or can be. Most of the games, he can take over a game by himself.”
However, the Seahawks have reportedly been concerned about Clowney’s asking price, and Avril stated he does not expect them to pursue the edge rusher if he demands too much money.
“I definitely think that’s somebody they should consider bringing back, but I also think he’s going to cost too much,” Avril said. “If you just look at what the Seattle Seahawks have done with (head coach Pete Carroll) and those guys – and no knock on them, that’s their philosophy – they never really spend top dollar for any D-lineman.”
Avril believes that the Seahawks will instead re-sign complementary pieces on the defensive line and sign a defensive end similar to Clowney with a lower asking price.
“Instead of paying him, they’ll probably try and bring two other guys back that they feel might be comparable to him,” Avril said.
“You keep some of these young players that you have, like a Jarran Reed who I definitely think they should sign back, a Quinton Jefferson who I think they should sign back and then you add hopefully one of these free agent pass rushers,” he said. “(Robert) Quinn is out there, there’s a few other ones who are out there, and you add them to the mix of and then you didn’t have to necessarily spend $22 (million) a year for one player when you could probably get three or four more players that can hopefully collectively be able to cause damage on quarterbacks.”
The dominoes of free agency will begin to fall on March 18 at the start of the new league year.
