Jadeveon Clowney may be using the Cleveland Browns offer for leverage

The Cleveland Browns are still a front runner for Jadeveon Clowney but are they really?

It’s entirely possible that the Cleveland Browns and their offers to Jadeveon Clowney have not been rejected publically so that Clowney and his people can parlay those offers into bigger opportunities from teams he would more prefer to be apart of. The Browns may have offered numerous offers to Clowney if rumors are to be believed and now Mary-Kay Cabot is reporting that he hasn’t ruled out any team just yet and that he intends to sign somewhere before the season starts.

The Browns have apparently offered at least two deals, ranging from $12-$17 million depending on who you ask. If Clowney was being offered that much, and sources believe that the Browns have offered him the most money, why did Clowney not take the deal? Conventional wisdom says that he isn’t interested in the Browns. So why not make that a known fact so the team can stop wasting their time?

Leverage.

Contractual leverage to be exact. In theory, if Clowney can make a team like the Tennessee Titans sweat a little, and force them to increase their offer, then Clowney could end up going to a team he prefers for more than he was going to make originally. The only team still linked in any serious rumors, the Titans, have enough to offer Clowney a deal on-par with the Browns. The two teams Clowney has been rumored to want to sign with the most are the Dallas Cowboys and New Orlean Saints. Both are unable to meet the demands of Clowney’s contract.

They would need to cut talent or trade contracts to make up the space needed. Yet, if say the Cowboys wanted Clowney bad enough, that might be what they decide to do. Unlikely but that’s the working theory; Try to use the Browns deal as an attempt to get better offers. Maybe not even better than what the Browns were offering but better than what was previously offered.

The idea of leveraging the contract is the only thing that makes sense to explain why Clowney and the Browns are still in any sort of contact. Clearly Clowney isn’t convinced to sign in Cleveland or elsewhere, because he hasn’t. He’s also not so in love with Cleveland and the contracts that he’s agreed to sign.

No one has yet to match or make a better offer. Leaving some to suspect that Clowney is keeping the Browns on the line until he can finally what he wants from who he wants.

This is just another reason why Cleveland should move on to an Everson Griffen type and close this chapter once and for all.