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Adam Peters Stacy Revere/GettyImages

The move Commanders fans are begging for is just sitting there

Originally posted on Riggo's Rag | By James Dudko | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 5:00 PM ET

Adam Peters took quite a gamble when he ignored edge-rushing reinforcements during the first two rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. However, the Washington Commanders' general manager can correct the oversight with one obvious move in free agency.

Handing a short-term, team-friendly deal to Jadeveon Clowney would solve two problems for a Washington defense still looking vulnerable up front. The former No. 1 overall pick is just sitting there on the veteran market waiting for another chance to be a single-season asset for a contender.

Clowney makes sense for the Commanders, not just because he offers more star power than Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jacob Martin. The solid but far from spectacular duo represents Peters' attempts to fix a not-inconsiderable problem during free agency.

Neither Martin nor Wise boasts Clowney's pedigree. Nor do returning retreads Clelin Ferrell and Jalyn Holmes. The Commanders are needlessly rolling the dice at a key spot when the veteran is still looking for a new team, and Peters has $21.13 million worth of salary cap space at his disposal.

Clowney is the marquee name Washington needs at the edges of its front seven. He's also the right profile for the way head coach Dan Quinn and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. like to attack blocking schemes and wreck protection.

Jadeveon Clowney makes sense for the Commanders

Let's get the obligatory critique of Clowney on the table and then discuss why it doesn't matter for the Commanders. That being the 32-year-old has never recorded double-digit sacks in a single season during his career.

The Commanders don't necessarily need a 10-plus sack artist on the edge. Sure, nobody would say no to one of those, but taking down quarterbacks wasn't a problem in 2024 when Quinn and Whitt's unit recorded 43 sacks.

What the defensive front needs more of is disruption, which happens to be the main currency of Clowney's playing style. He registered 22 pressures for the Carolina Panthers last season, one year after posting 23 for the Baltimore Ravens.

Pressure breaks pipes more than sacks because the constant harassment of quarterbacks leads to negative plays and turnovers. Like when Clowney won his pass-rush matchup early and hurried Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow into throwing a pick in Week 4.

Woods with the big time INT
: FOX pic.twitter.com/JlG9W7rrW8
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) September 29, 2024

This is the kind of quick pressure the Commanders need more often. Only one player, Dorance Armstrong Jr., had 20-plus pressures (24) last season. Clowney wouldn't just enable Washington to impact passing plays more often; the 11-year pro would also fix another core weakness.

Jadeveon Clowney can help solve another Commanders problem

Addressing a softness against the run should be a priority for Quinn and Whitt after last season's defense allowed 4.8 yards per carry and 18 touchdowns on the ground. Getting better won't be easy now that Jonathan Allen is playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

Allen was the most rugged run defender along the interior, but the Commanders also lacked a true force player on the edge. Clowney can be that guy thanks to a career-long knack for setting a hard edge and being stout on running plays.

He made 7.5 run stuffs for the Panthers and has 83.5 for his career. Clowney is formidable on either side of the line because of a 6-foot-5, 266-pound frame and an appetite for playing the run.

The latter quality separates Clowney from many of last season's edge defenders in Washington. Players like 2024 team sack leader Dante Fowler Jr. usually played the run only as an afterthought on the way to the quarterback.

Putting Clowney into the lineup would give the Commanders more oomph in this discipline. A tandem with newly acquired defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who can be a narrative-changing signing, would turn what was a weakness into a team strength.

Kinlaw's likely roving role in this defense is another reason why an edge with Clowney's versatility makes sense for Peters.

Jadeveon Clowney's multiplicity fits the Commanders' defensive schemes

Moving players around up front is the hallmark of Quinn's defenses. It turned do-it-all linebacker Frankie Luvu into a threatening chess piece last season, but there will be more movement along the line of scrimmage in 2025.

Kinlaw will be key to the shape-shifting plan. Time on the edge for the former South Carolina standout will mean some three-man lines for the Commanders. That fits with Quinn's fondness for mixing 3-4 and 4-3 looks as part of a hybrid brew in the trenches.

Adding Clowney to the mix would only increase how the Commanders can alter the picture. He's played outside linebacker in 3-4 fronts for the Houston Texans, Ravens, Panthers, and Tennessee Titans, but he was also involved in more four-man looks with the Seattle Seahawks.

Clowney can line up on either side of the line, with his hand in the dirt or as a stand-up rusher. He can also blitz the interior, something that showed up in the highlights of his time in Houston.

Deploying Clowney with Luvu, Armstrong, and Wise, who are also adept at sliding inside, would give the Commanders an unorthodox situational pass-rush set opponents would find tough to decipher on third downs.

It's one more way Clowney would improve the Commanders defensively. Above what a more prolific, but less-dimensional edge-rusher would offer.

All for a price sure to be a relative bargain compared to shelling out big bucks and draft capital to trade for a blue chip pressure artist.