Jadeveon Clowney ready to bring prove-it mode to hometown Panthers - ESPN

CHARLOTTE, N. C. — Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney can't wait to bring the prove-it mode he's been in to his hometown Carolina Panthers since his falling out with the Cleveland Browns at the end of the 2022 season.

The three-time selection Pro Bowl from nearby Rock Hill, South Carolina on Wednesday signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Panthers that could reach up to $24 million with incentives based on sacks.

Clowney, 31, earned the deal after tying his career high in sacks (9.5) last season in what he called his «Kobe [Bryant] year'' with the Baltimore Ravens.

»That was very important, really for myself because I already knew I could play the game and make plays,'' Clowney said during a zoom call on Friday. «I tell people all the time if I play in 16, 17 games, it's going to look like a Pro Bowl season. That's all I got to do, is just be out there playing.

»I know I can make the plays no matter what team I'm on. I've just got to be available and take care of myself. The older I get the more I figure out how to stay healthier.''

Because of injuries Clowney hadn't played a full season before last year since 2017, when he had 9.5 sacks for the Houston Texans, who selected him with the top pick of the 2014 draft.

After wearing No. 90 most of his career, he chose 24 last season to symbolize what he hoped would be a year of growth after having only two sacks in an injury-plagued 2022 season with the Browns. His reasoning was similar to Bryant switching from 8 to 24 with the Lakers in 2006 after Los Angeles moved on from star center Shaquille O'Neal.

«That was my Kobe Bryant year, the return of the killer,'' Clowney said. „I said Kobe [Year] because when I was in Cleveland a lot of stuff happened my last year there when I