The New Orleans Saints made a last-ditch effort to try and acquire Jadeveon Clowney through a sign-and-trade before the Tennessee Titans ultimately signed him, but as it turns out, they weren’t the only team attempting to do that.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Clowney would have ended up on the Baltimore Ravens — and not the Saints — via a sign-and-trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars had the league not shut down the Saints’ idea.
Here’s the latest from Florio:
Per multiple sources, if the league had given the green light to the sign-and-trade concept, Clowney would have ended up not with the Saints but with the Baltimore Ravens.
From New Orleans’ perspective, the Browns would have signed Clowney and traded him to the Saints. From Baltimore’s perspective, the Jaguars would have signed Clowney and traded him to the Ravens.
Once the league told the Saints that it couldn’t happen, the strategy was abandoned. If a different answer had been obtained, the Saints would have found out soon thereafter that the Jaguars would have been signing Clowney, and that the Jaguars would have been trading him to Baltimore.
After Clowney landed with the Titans, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer revealed that his desired landing spot was actually with the Ravens.
The only problem is that the Ravens, like the Saints, were strapped for cash and couldn’t sign Clowney outright, which led to both teams exploring the sign-and-trade option.
Thankfully for Tennessee, the league shut down the idea and Clowney will be coming to Nashville instead.
