The Texans and Jadeveon Clowney haven’t found agreement on a long-term deal with a little more than 24 hours to go before the deadline to use the franchise tag and that means the team will be taking advantage of that option.
General Manager Brian Gaine announced that the Texans were using the tag on Monday afternoon. It’s the non-exclusive version of the tag, which means that other teams can sign Clowney to an offer sheet which the Texans would have the right to match. If not, they’d get two first-round picks.
“Today, we have placed the franchise tag on Jadeveon Clowney, but our goal is to continue to work with his representation on a long-term contract. This gives us both an opportunity to continue to do so,” Gaine said in a statement.
The Texans list Clowney as a defensive end/outside linebacker in their announcement, which will likely set off a debate about what salary Clowney would be line for if he plays under the tag.
The franchise tag for linebackers comes with a salary of $15.443 million and defensive ends get $17.128 million. There was a question about whether he should be paid as a defensive end when the Texans picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal and the Texans bumped his salary by a little over $1 million more than linebackers were set to make.