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The Cleveland Browns officially signed defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn on Thursday.
OFFICIAL: Welcome to Cleveland, @AJaClay!
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) April 9, 2020
Our D-Line gets a pass-rushing boost with the signing of veteran Adrian Clayborn » https://t.co/ei47Stmcvd pic.twitter.com/FxO8a6xsE6
While the Browns did not release contract info, previous reports have the deal being a two-year contract for $6 million plus incentives:
The #Browns are signing DE Adrian Clayborn to a 2-year deal, per agent @blakebaratz, worth $6M with a chance to get to $7M. A solid veteran signing. pic.twitter.com/RgeSQ0RPkx
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 31, 2020
The 31-year-old Clayborn spent last season with the Atlanta Falcons, where he played in 15 games and made one start. He finished the season with four sacks.
Originally a first-round draft selection by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2011 NFL Draft, Clayborn appeared in 110 games, making 52 starts, with 36.5 career sacks and 145 career tackles.
Clayborn joins a defensive line unit that is in desperate need of some quality depth behind starting defensive ends Myles Garrett and Olivier Vernon. And if there is one thing that Clayborn knows how to do it is to find the quarterback, according to Pro Football Focus,
In Clayborn’s 2011 rookie campaign, his pass-rushing was living up to his first-round pick expectations as he owned the 20th best grade in that facet in the NFL. After playing in only three games in 2012 and one game in 2014 due to injury, we never saw the same dominance in the pass-rush from Clayborn until his 2017 with Atlanta. He was a rotational player that year and generated and 85.4 pass-rush grade ranking 11th. He dipped down in 2018 with New England but thrived in his return to Atlanta in 2019 ranking once again in the top 25 as a pass-rusher. His run-defense and tackling have always been subpar, but he still can consistently get after the passer.
According to cleveland.com, citing ESPN Stats and Info and Next Gen Stats, Clayborn had the league’s fourth-best pass-rush win rate last season at 24 percent, just two spots behind Garrett, who lead the pack at right defensive end at 27 percent.