John McClain reports that the Houston Texans have officially used their franchise tag on OLB Jadeveon Clowney Monday.
The Texans have already confirmed the news:
The Houston Texans have placed the non-exclusive franchise designation on DE/OLB Jadeveon Clowney, the team announced today. pic.twitter.com/HmY04QtzWj
— Texans PR (@TexansPR) March 4, 2019
This shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering that reports said that the Texans and Clowney weren’t close to an agreement on a long-term extension.
Houston will have until July to negotiate a long-term extension with Clowney.
The franchise tag will run the Texans between $15,443,000 and $17,128,000, depending on whether Clowney is considered an outside linebacker or a defensive end.
Clowney, 25, is a former No. 1 overall pick of the Texans back in 2014. He was in the final year of his four-year, $22.272 million contract when the Texans picked up his fifth-year option last year.
Clowney was classified as an outside linebacker, which drops his fifth-year option figure from $13.846 million down to $12.306 million for the 2018 season and comes out to a savings of $1.54 million.
Clowney was in line to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
In 2018, Clowney appeared in 15 games for the Texans and recorded 47 tackles, 9 sacks, a forced fumble, three fumble recoveries, one defensive touchdown and a pass defense. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 9 overall edge defender out of 103 qualifying players.
We had him featured in our Top 100 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.
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