BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Jadeveon Clowney wasted no time getting reacquainted with his teammates Wednesday afternoon after putting pen to paper on his new contract with the Browns.
Clowney chatted up his teammates and coaches in between reps and drills during their second of 10 OTA practices hours after signing the one-year deal to stay in Cleveland.
“Great to have JD back,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s a very active player, was very productive for us last season. He’s very popular in this building so having him in the meeting room and having him around the building you felt his energy and guys were excited that he was here.”
Everyone was glad to have 90 back.
“I’m super excited,” cornerback Greg Newsome II, who enters his second season said. “It makes my job easier so I’m super excited that he’s back. He has an aura about him too, he’s a big energetic guy. I would say he’s kind of like the big brother but you’re able to relate to him as he relates to as well so definitely excited to have him back and he was definitely great for us last year and he’s looking to do even better things this season.”
Clowney had 9.0 sacks, 19 QB hits, 11 tackles for loss, two pass breakups and two forced fumbles playing opposite of All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett in 2021.
“To have him to go along with Myles, it’s a pretty sight to see as a linebacker,” Anthony Walker said.
Walked joked that Clowney didn’t respond to his recruitment text a month ago, but Clowney did respond Sunday after coming to terms with he Browns.
“He texted me one thing: Super Bowl, that’s it,” Walker said. “So happy to have him back, for sure.”
Similar to last year, Clowney signed a one-year deal that could pay him up to $11 million with incentives.
While fans worried if Clowney would return, his teammates did not.
“I thought he was coming back,” Newsome said. “Especially when we got Deshaun [Watson]. You put the pieces together and things like that and just how successful he played last season playing alongside Myles Garrett.
And he sees what we’re trying to build here and I think everyone sees it and that kind of shows you that he knows that we have something special on this team so he wanted to be a part of it.”
Clowney’s return fills allows Chase Winovich, acquired in a trade this offseason from New England for linebacker Mack Wilson, third-round pick and rookie Alex Wright to compete for rotational roles along with free agent additions Stephen Weatherly and Isaac Rochell.
After being limited to just 21 games and three sacks over two seasons following three straight Pro Bowl appearances from 2016-18, Clowney was able to get his career – and health back on track by playing in 14 games last season in Cleveland.
“All these guys battle injuries at certain points of the season,” Stefanski said. “Sometimes you’re out a few games, sometimes it’s one game, sometimes it’s a quarter. But I think part of this game is working through those [injuries]. Obviously, everybody feels healthy at this moment. We’re not doing any contact out here so we’re trying to be smart about everything we do but unfortunately injuries are part of this game, so we try to make sure we’re smart about the work we do and then understand when you do get injured in varying degrees of severity you gotta work back to the field.”
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