CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns now have bookend former No. 1 overall picks aiming for NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors this season.
Myles Garrett was on track for the award each of the past two seasons before extenuating circumstances intervened, and now Browns new defensive end Jadeveon Clowney — the No. 1 overall pick in 2014 — feels capable of it.
“With my potential and the way I play the game, if I can stay healthy, yeah, I shouldn’t be far away from being Defensive Player of the Year,’’ Clowney said on his introductory Zoom call Wednesday. “I think I have that potential, and I can do it.”
So he and Garrett, a first-team All-Pro in 2020, can push each for the coveted award?
“Yeah, at least for All-Pro, I know that – one and two, something like that,’’ he said.
Signed by the Browns to a one-year deal Wednesday worth $8 million, plus $2 million more in incentives, Clowney, 28, is out to prove that he’s still worthy of his No. 1 overall status despite notching only three sacks in his last two seasons, a span of 21 games. He had none in eight starts in Tennessee last season, but was suffering from a torn meniscus long before he shut it down for the final seven games and underwent surgery.
Still, through 10 weeks, he was tied for ninth in the NFL with 22 pressures, same as Bud Dupree, Joey Bosa and T.J. Watt, and only two fewer than Garrett.
“I’m glad I stopped when I did and it didn’t get worse,’’ he said. “I feel great now. I’m looking forward to proving to guys that I’m back healthy and I still can dominate in this league.’’
A three-time Pro Bowler from 2016-18 when he played with three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt in Houston, Clowney is confident that he hasn’t had his career season yet largely because of injuries, including five knee surgeries and one core muscle surgery after the 2019 season in Seattle.
“My career started off slow because I got hurt the first game of my career with a microfracture (knee surgery), probably the worst thing you could have in this game,’’ he said. “I don’t think everybody got to see the person they drafted yet. I’m working back towards that, but I’m well on my way now. I made three Pro Bowls, and it’s funny because I have not ever really been all the way healthy to the point where I felt like nothing was bothering me.’’
He feels so good now, it’s almost out of this world.
“They say the sky is the limit, but it’s probably higher than that,’’ he said. “They have footprints on the moon, though. That’s where we’re trying to reach. I just want to stay healthy. If I play 16 games, I think we’ll be ready to see.’’
Playing on a one-year ‘prove it’ deal, Clowney knows he has plenty of doubters, especially because this is his fourth team in as many seasons.
“I just want to show that I’m still an elite player, more by proving it to myself than anything,’’ he said. “We’re going to see this season.”
One reason Clowney (6-5, 255) is confident he’ll excel here is playing opposite Garrett, who consistently draws double teams. It will be like his Houston days, where Watt took plenty of heat off of him.
“I’ve been getting double-teamed an awful lot in this league and in my career,’’ he said. “I’m looking forward to playing with somebody who’s dominant on the opposite side like a Myles Garrett, who can draw a double team. Maybe I can go one on one more (laughter).”
As for the spotlight on Garrett, he’s all for it.
“I don’t care about that focus stuff,’’ he said. “I’d like them to focus on him. It might take some pressure off of myself. Yeah, let them focus on him.”
Despite the fact he and Garrett were both represented by Bus Cook until Clowney hired Kennard McGuire last offseason, they’ve only talked twice and don’t know each other well. But Clowney will know his place when he shows up for camp.
“I’m not really trying to walk in and step on anybody’s toes and be a ‘hoorah guy,’’’ he said. “If they ask for my opinion or ask anything from me, of course I’ll give it to them. I’m just here to help out, do my job and play hard. I’m definitely going to play hard. Everybody knows that.”
Clowney laughed when asked the difference between this year and last year, when he was reluctant to sign here despite Browns GM Andrew Berry offering him more money than anyone else on a one-year deal and almost as much on a multi-year offer.
“Yeah, they’re winning,’’ he said. “They have a great team. They’re definitely a winning team. They won 12 games last year, right? More than what the team I played for won last year (the Titans went 11-5 and lost in the wild card round).
“I like this division for one. It’s great competition. I get to play with great players beside me. That was basically it – who I can play with and who’s going to help me get further in my career.”
He also appreciated Berry’s persistence in landing him, and the fact he loves his relentless style of play. In fact, the two developed a mutual relentless society throughout the recruiting process.
“I said, ‘this dude is very relentless,’’ Clowney said. “He was relentless getting after me and trying to get me up here, and I’m going to be relentless on that field for him. He told me he likes my style of play. I said ‘I’m going to bring that here.’”
Clowney also heeded the call from Browns new defensive tackle Malik Jackson to ‘hop on board’ what Jackson believes is a Super Bowl contender.
“I caught some of the words he said and some of the words the safety (S John Johnson III) said about, ‘He has not played with anybody in his career’ and ‘come and join a good defense,’’’ Clowney said. “That kind of caught my attention. They’re hungry, I can tell you that. That’s why I jumped on board. I don’t think Cleveland is like the way people think they used to be.’’
But he actually knew about a week after his first visit March 24th.
“My team and I sat down, and we made our mind up, a group decision,’’ he said. “This is where I’m supposed to be this year.”
His family members were skeptical at first.
“I told my girl and family that I’d probably end up going to Cleveland,’’ Clowney, who has a young son, Jahlil. “They said, ‘Cleveland?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I enjoyed my visits up there with those guys, a great staff and I can get along with them and have a good time.’ They said they couldn’t believe it.”
Are they on board now?
“They’re definitely on board,’’ he said. “They have no choice but to be on board with me.”
Clowney said circumstances changed when he switched from Cook to McGuire in September, just before he signed with the Titans.
“My last [agent] did not tell me to take a visit, but this one made me visit,’’ Clowney said. “I got to sit down with the staff and got to know some of the guys. They were pretty laid back and straightforward. They knew how to get where they were trying to go. I want to be a part of something like that.’’
Clowney was so focused on the defense that he never stopped to thinking about playing on the same team as Odell Beckham Jr. and fellow No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield, which makes the Browns the first team since Washington in 2001 with at least three No. 1 overall picks on the roster. It also gave them 10 first-round picks on the team.
“To be honest, I did not even think about the offensive side,’’ he said. “If I was thinking about offense, I’d probably start with that running game – the two-headed monster (of RBs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt) is really what gets me. Those guys in the backfield are hard to tackle. I guess because I played against them, too. I don’t really worry about receivers because I don’t have to guard them.’’
But Mayfield, who turned 26 on Wednesday, certainly had Clowney on mind, posting on Instagram that “this is a nice birthday present.’’
For Clowney, it’s a gift to play for a contender.
“It’s very different,’’ he said. “When guys are trying to win, it brings out the best in everybody on the team. It’s a great feeling knowing you can come to a team that’s already on the up and I can just come fit in and try to help them get over that hump and get to the Super Bowl.”
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