Right after the Dallas Cowboys‘ 40-37 OT win over the New York Giants, Cowboys owner and general manger Jerry Jones confirmed to reporters after the game, that the team signed veteran defender and former No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney.
“He’ll add some real depth. He’s very credible. He’ll help us,” Jones said.
Dallas hosted Clowney for a free agent visit on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old edge defender brings over a decade of NFL experience and a reputation as one of the league’s most disruptive run defenders.
Clowney last played for the Carolina Panthers in 2024, where he appeared in 14 games and recorded 46 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and nine tackles for loss.
His journeyman career has taken him across the league, Baltimore Ravens (2023), Cleveland Browns (2021–22), Tennessee Titans (2020), Seattle Seahawks (2019), and Houston Texans who made him the No. 1 overall selection in 2014 and played with through 2018.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who overlapped with Clowney in Seattle, where Schottenheimer served as offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2020, met with him during his Wednesday visit.
“I would say the personal relationship with him and the problems he can cause in the pass game and run game,” Schottenheimer said.
Across his 11-year career, Clowney has compiled 409 tackles, 58 sacks, 178 quarterback pressures, 108 tackles for loss, 15 forced fumbles, and four defensive touchdowns.
While his pass-rush numbers have been steady, his calling card has always been setting the edge. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s earned a run-defense grade of 75 or higher in six different seasons.
A three-time Pro Bowler and 2016 second-team All-Pro, Clowney’s pedigree stretches back to his South Carolina days, where he was SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and became a household name with his iconic helmet-popping hit on Michigan running back Vincent Smith in the 2013 Outback Bowl, a play that won the ESPY for best play that year.
Clowney now joins a Cowboys defensive front that has seen significant turnover this year.
The team lost Pro Bowl DE Demarcus Lawrence all the way back in March who signed with the Seahawks. As well as the blockbuster trade of Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and draft capital.
Dallas has worked quickly to reload its front and Clowney will join the likes of Sam Williams, Dante Fowler Jr., Marshawn Kneeland, Donavan Ezeiruaku, and James Houston off the edge.
