What a Jadeveon Clowney extension may look like for Seahawks

Putting Clowney’s production with the Seahawks into context

From a casual fan it would be safe to say that Clowney hasn’t been quite the game changer we had hoped for. So far this year he has 20 tackles, two forced fumbles, one interception, two sacks, five tackles for a loss and seven QB hits. These figures would put him well below his averages. Below is a comparison between his 2016-2018 averages and his projected ending numbers based on his first eight games played (**).

Stat                         Avg 2016-2018                   Full year 2019 projection **

TFL                                        18                                          10

Sack                                       8                                             4

Tackles                                 53                                           40

QB hits                                 20                                          14

Forced Fumbles                 1                                              4

Clowney is well south of his averages in every category outside of forced fumbles. To some this is quite concerning. What I see is that he is going through a learning curve, similar to his first couple years in the NFL. Clowney did not participate in any of the off-season activities as he was holding out for a trade or extension from the Texans after being franchise tagged. He also got traded to an entirely different defensive scheme in the 4-3 (Texans play the 3-4 where Clowney was an OLB) with little off-season to make the adjustment. It has been a work in progress this year as Clowney is having to learn the system on the fly.

Fortunately for the Seahawks, Clowney has improved every week. Clowney has the 5th best pass rush win rate in the NFL this season overall at 27%. This is a metric used to show how often the defensive line player can break through the offensive line within 2.5 second or less. Clowneys win rate leads Khalil Mack, Demarcus Lawrence, Calais Campbell, Chris Jones and is tied with Aaron Donald. Pretty good company.

Clowney had his best game in week 8 against the Falcons. He ended the game with an absurd 70% pass rush win rate per Next Gen Stats. This means 7 out of every 10 pass rushes he beat his opposing player in less than 2.5 seconds. In this game he produced 1 sack, and 4 QB hits.

Per PFF, Clowney is also the second highest rated Seahawk on the team trailing only Russell Wilson and the 10th highest rated defensive lineman in the NFL. This is all while learning a new system, without having an offseason to prepare, new teammates, and absolutely zero pressure being generated from other players.

To put into context how big of a deal the lack of pressure is from his teammates: this season Clowney is the most double teamed edge rusher in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. With no other player able to create pressure, offenses are focusing all their resources into shutting him down. Its near impossible for Clowney to make much more of a dent than he has without additional help.