Could Jadeveon Clowney end up with the Vikings somehow?

For more than a month, Jadeveon Clowney has remained unsigned. Should the Minnesota Vikings figure out a way to add him to their roster?

Heading into the 2020 offseason, the thought of Jadeveon Clowney landing with the Minnesota Vikings was preposterous.

It still is for the most part and rightfully so. The Vikings are only estimated to have around $8.5 million in cap space after signing their draft picks and Clowney has been looking to cash in with his next contract. Spotrac has his current market value being worth a deal that pays him an average of $18.8 million per year.

However, the former Seattle Seahawks defensive end still hasn’t signed with anyone since free agency began more than a month ago. There have been rumblings of some showing interest in him, but it hasn’t resulted in anything. So could Clowney’s price tag be getting lower as more and more time continues to pass by?

During this year’s NFL Draft, Minnesota added a few more pieces to their defensive line. So the Vikings are not in desperate need to add another pass rusher, but it’s hard to imagine Mike Zimmer would down the opportunity to sign someone like Clowney.

He’s coming off a 2019 season with the Seahawks that saw him end up with only three sacks. However, Clowney was able to also rack up 30 pressures, 17 hurries, 13 quarterback hits, and 10 knockdowns.

His numbers were down from his previous two seasons with the Houston Texans. But he also played around 30 percent fewer defensive snaps for Seattle last year than he did for his 2017 and 2018 campaigns with the Texans.

Six years removed from when Houston selected him with the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, some don’t think Clowney has reached his full potential yet. However, the 27-year-old defensive end could be running out of time to get to the level that some believed he was capable of reaching back in 2014.

Minnesota has a history of getting the most out of their pass rushers (see Everson Griffen, Danielle Hunter, Ifeadi Odenigbo). If Clowney were to join the Vikings, it could do wonders for his career and ultimately result in him actually landing the lucrative contract he thought he was going to get this offseason.

For now though, this is just a pipe dream and nothing more. Would Clowney be a great addition to Minnesota’s defense? Absolutely, of course he would.

But unless the Vikings are able to free up a significant amount of cap space, Clowney’s chances of suiting up in purple and gold next season are going to remain very low.