Clowney

[SoulfishHawk]

I'd like to see a stat on how many plays he is being held, I bet it's at least 40 percent of the times he is rushing the passer.

 

[sdog1981]

Clowney suffers from hype overload.

He was on the cover of ESPN The Maginze at 18, number 1 recruit for every recruiting publication. Won an ESPY award after his sophomore season for one tackle in the Outback Bowl. Was the first overall draft pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Then his pro career started and he has been above average, but when you are the first overall pick with a boatload of hype people are going to think he is one of two things: Overrated or The football god-king.

He was always the third-best pass-rusher on the Texans. Behind Whitney Merclius and JJ Watt.

Clowney is like Cliff Avril. Getting around 5 to 9 sacks a season and a damn good player to have on your defense. Avril had no hype and that is why he gets a lot more love for his production.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Clowney suffers from hype overload.

He was on the cover of ESPN The Maginze at 18, number 1 recruit for every recruiting publication. Won an ESPY award after his sophomore season for one tackle in the Outback Bowl. Was the first overall draft pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Then his pro career started and he has been above average, but when you are the first overall pick with a boatload of hype people are going to think he is one of two things: Overrated or The football god-king.

He was always the third-best pass-rusher on the Texans. Behind Whitney Merclius and JJ Watt.

Clowney is like Cliff Avril. Getting around 5 to 9 sacks a season and a damn good player to have on your defense. Avril had no hype and that is why he gets a lot more love for his production.

Avril's a pretty good comparison, but IMO Clowney's a better all around DE because he's so disruptive in the passing and run game.

Which I think there in lies the Rub. People see Clowney as overrated because he doesn't get 15-20 sacks a season. But that's not his game, it's never been his game.

Clowney is ROUTINELY at the top of the list every single week for double teams, disruptive plays and pressures. Which I know doesn't translate for most fans because all we want is sacks and hits.........which are important.

But if we're debating on whether Clowney's overhyped or overrated? Nah, ask the people who watch film, or delve into the deep weed type PFF stats, and Clowney's easily one of the top 10 DE's in the league, and IMO worth a big contract next year.

 

[knownone]

Avril was more of a technician who used his speed around the edge to create pressure. Clowney is more of a hand grenade; he may not get to the QB, but he's going to mess everything up in the process. His issue is that he does everything Khalil Mack does except get the QB down. He's the Ferrari of #2 pass rushers. He's not going to carry the pass rush on his own.

 

[Tamerlane]

Clowney is an interesting case. Disruptive and boundless potential for development, no doubt. I would love to see him extended and the Hawks surely would too, but at what price?

It was reported that in Houston he was looking for DLaw/Clark plus money. But while Clowney impacts games in many less visible ways, and has obviously been a premier penetrating run defender, his pass rush has not matched the hype or his (alleged) salary expectations. It's not just mediocre sack numbers either. For every year 2015-2018, according to PFF's more objective pass rushing productivity metric, Clowney's numbers have generally come in well under say Clark's or Ansah's (his rank among edge rushers was #74, #57, #43 and #63).

This year, Clowney only just surpassed Jefferson's pressure rate last game - although Jefferson's having an outstanding year - and he is currently ranked at #42 among edge rushers with 20%+ snap count (#26 among those with 50%+ snap count).

He's very good but I don't see any way the Hawks meet the contract he is supposedly seeking. Given how much Clowney seems to like it in Seattle, maybe this is a good case for letting the player test the market, as they have done with Bennett and others, but that would mean (as I understand it) sacrificing their small exclusive window to negotiate an extension. And of course Clowney was reportedly assured there would be no franchise tag.

So what is he worth?

 

[Tical21]

He's a great disruptor, love how he consistently pushes the OL back a few feet, but if you pay a DE that cannot rush the passer any kind of significant money, you're making a grave, grave mistake. He has two sacks, and neither one of them did he get the QB to the ground. In fact, he had a ultra-clean shot on a qb last week as he was getting rid of the ball and chose to get out of the way and intentionally whiff instead. It was bizarre. I know we have no pass rush and desperately need one, but rewarding guys that can't rush the passer with big money will only make the problem worse. Need to come up with a working solution, not overpay a kinda-almost solution.

 

[olyfan63]

Clowney suffers from hype overload.
Clowney is like Cliff Avril. Getting around 5 to 9 sacks a season and a damn good player to have on your defense. Avril had no hype and that is why he gets a lot more love for his production.

Avril was the REAL MVP of both SB48 and SB49. SB48, sure, Darren Smith caught the wounded duck from Peyton and ran it back, but Cliff made the play. SB49, Avril leaving the game with a concussion was the Patriots MVP. Without Avril in the game Brady had about an extra second to throw on each snap, Patriots don't erase that 10 point 4th quarter deficit. Plus Cliff Avril is just an all-around awesome dude, on so many levels.