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Jadeveon Clowney has told Titans he's coming to Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Because he’s been so flakey, Titans fans may want to hold off on the full celebration until they see a picture of him on the practice field.

But as of right now, Jadeveon Clowney has told the Titans he’s coming to join them in Nashville. He's not here yet and he's not yet signed the deal he's agreed to and still has to pass a physical.

That confirms Dianna Russini's Twitter report. Yes, I'm also aware of what Josina Anderson's said Clowney has said. (Check back for further developments.)

Provided he follows through on that and signs his deal, Clowney needs to produce on a defensive front that is in need of edge-setting run defense and the sort of influential quarterback disruption that may not produce sacks for Clowney but bolsters the team’s overall, too-often insufficient rush.clowney

(Photo courtesy Seattle Seahawks.)

Earlier Saturday the Titans kept only four outside linebackers at the roster cutdown deadline.

Two of them, Vic Beasley and Derick Roberson are coming off injuries. Beasley was removed from the Non-Football Injury list to be put on the 53-man roster. Roberson suffered a leg injury Tuesday and didn’t practice Thursday or Friday.

It's a turn of events for the Titans in terms of the late-signing of the big target.

In 2012, the Titans put the hard sell on Peyton Manning, then watched him go finish his career in Denver. At the end of the season, Bud Adams fired senior executive VP and COO Mike Reinfeldt for it.

Manning is the giant one that got away, the Hall of Fame quarterback that could have changed the franchise’s fortunes.

Since Jon Robinson became the team’s general manager in 2016 he’s been unafraid of making big moves including dealing away the No. 1 pick in his first draft.

But landing the older, hole-filling free agent hasn’t been a move he’s mastered, and sometimes that's been a good thing.

Under his leadership, the Titans pursued Ndamukong Suh, who went to the Rams in 2018 and Antonio Brown, who chose the Raiders in 2019.

Suh was not spectacular but got good reviews for his ultimate effectiveness in helping Aaron Donald and Los Angeles get to the Super Bowl. He probably would have helped in Nashville.

Brown didn’t play a down for the Raiders, bringing a disastrous soap opera to Oakland, and then New England. He would have been a disaster here or anywhere.

The Titans have courted Clowney semi-publicly for some time now. After the details of the Saints' hearty pursuit became known Mike Vrabel said at the start of his Zoom press conference Friday that the Titans had an offer out.

I don’t know if Clowney will be the magic ingredient for the Titans, but he’s a better and more versatile football player on NFL Sundays than anyone the team has.

He had his most productive sack season playing for Vrabel in Houston in 2017 with 9.5.apple icon 114x114 precomposed

By many accounts, Clowney is not entirely passionate about football. He didn't want to be with a team earlier, building relationships during camp, preferring a last-minute deal.

The Titans already have a big question mark on love-of-football with Vic Beasley. The other guy they needed in the same position room having any similar question has the potential to make things difficult. That's why Vrabel makes the big bucks. He needs to sort through those issues and get maximum production out of Clowney and Beasley.

It's a problem Tennessee is happy to be in a position to sort through, with a guy in Clowney they waited out and are clearly confident can be a big factor in taking their defense to a new level.

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