Jadeveon Clowney had arguably the best season of his career last year, his first with the Baltimore Ravens. It seemed that both sides hoped that 2023 would not be the last that they work together, but the economics proved to work against them.
The Ravens are in one of the tighter spots they’ve faced against the salary cap in some years. While they frequently lose significant free agents, they’re absolutely hemorrhaging talent this year. From ILB Patrick Queen to G John Simpson and many others, they’ve lost quite a few snaps from last season.
The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec believes, however, that the loss of Clowney marks “one of the Ravens’ biggest offseason losses to date”. He agreed to sign a two-year contract with the Carolina Panthers worth $20 million after they lost Brian Burns.
Zrebiec notes that the Ravens wanted to bring him back, but “there was always the fear that he priced himself out of their range”. Clowney played under just a one-year, $2.5 million contract for Baltimore last season.
Playing every game for the first time 2017, Clowney recorded a career-high 9.5 sacks last season. He also registered nine tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and five passes defensed, with 19 quarterback hits.
He was coming off a disappointing, injury-plagued season with theBrowns when he signed with the Ravens midway through training camp. Baltimore still boasted some young pass rushers, but injuries and performance issues forced Clowney into a showcase role. He and another veteran, Kyle Van Noy, proved their top pass rushers, the former now gone, the latter an unrestricted free agent.
Baltimore still holds out hopes for Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo, two former high draft picks at the position. Neither have developed into what their pedigree suggests, though in Ojabo’s case injuries play a headlining role.
One way or another, the Ravens have some Clowney shoes to fill, and they may not have the internal options to get themselves out to the other end of this problem. Even if they re-sign Van Noy, you’re still banking on him continuing to exceed his career expectations. He recorded nine sacks last season when he never even had seven in a single season before. And he just recently turned 33 years old.
Baltimore prioritized retaining DL Justin Madubuike this offseason, and that task they achieved famously. Still, they’ve lost quite a bit, including those previously mentioned, but also Kevin Zeitler, Geno Stone, and Tyler Huntley. They also parted with others such as WR Odell Beckham Jr. and Tyus Bowser, another of those young pass rushers.
