Stephen Jones addresses whether Cowboys could still sign Jadeveon Clowney after visit

Earlier this week, the Dallas Cowboys hosted 32-year-old free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney for a visit. It was a clear effort to reinforce the Cowboys pass rush two weeks after trading away two-time All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.

Dallas executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed as much during a Friday afternoon appearance on 103.5 FM The Fan, adding the door is “absolutely” still open for the Cowboys to sign Clowney after what Jones described as a “get-to-know-you session” for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

“We had a great visit with him. He wanted to come in and see what we’re about. Obviously he’s the true, ultimate veteran. I think that was a get-to-know-you session,” Jones said, according to The Athletic‘s Jon Machota. “He wanted to get to know what our organization is about, Coach (Brian) Schottenheimer and his staff, (DL coach Aaron Whitecotton) and then (DC Matt Eberflus). He wanted to see the facilities, get a feel for us. And I think he came away very positive and we came away very positive as well.”

The Cowboys sent shockwaves across the NFL world when its traded away the 26-year-old Parsons, the 2021 NFL Defensvie Rookie of the Year, to the Packers for 29-year-old nose tackle Kenny Clark and Green Bay’s first-round pick in the 2026 and 2027 NFL Drafts. Now, two weeks later, Dallas is in the market for Parsons’ replacement.

“I think after losing (Parsons), (Clowney) can do a lot of things to help us. … To add a piece like Jadeveon could really be helpful to us, and we’ll see where that goes here over the next few days.” Jones continued. “We as an organization felt like any time you lose a piece like Micah and don’t replace it right away, … we’re obviously missing something there on the outside. We felt like that was a strength, in spite of the fact we’re losing Micah with the group we have there, but when you have the opportunity to bring a guy in like him, and we did a lot of film work on him leading up to this and really felt like he can bring something that can be very helpful to us. I think he’s very disruptive. He certainly has production as well.

“And it’s not like we’re going to ask him to go in there and play 60 plays,” Jones concluded. “We want to get a number of pass rushes out of him every game and a number of really good plays. And we think he can be disrupted on those and could make a difference if we could figure out how to get him signed and get him on this football team.”

Clowney, a South Carolina alum, last played with his homestate Carolina Panthers last season, where he tallied 5.5 sacks and 46 total tackles in 14 games. The 6-foot-5 and 266-pound Clowney is a three-time Pro Bowl selection between 2016-18 in his final three seasons with the Houston Texans, who originally drafted him. Clowney has also played for the Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, with whom he tied a career-high with 9.5 sacks in 2023. He has registered nine or more sacks four times over his 11-year NFL career.