The debate continues to rage on over whether Jadeveon Clowney is worthy of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. There is no denying Clowney’s athleticism, but there have been plenty of questions about his work ethic. On Monday’s edition of “NFL Total Access,” former NFL players Warren Sapp and Heath Evans ripped Clowney’s decision to decline private workouts with teams before the draft.
“I look at Jadeveon Clowney’s tape and I don’t see a guy that’s playing the game with his hair on fire,” Sapp said. “If it’s my pick, I’m taking Teddy Bridgewater. I believe Teddy Bridgewater is that quarterback who gets it done.”
Bridgewater has tumbled down the draft boards with poor performances during the offseason, but that’s a debate for another day. Sapp and Evans both blasted Clowney for turning down NFL teams who are interested in jumpstarting his career.
“What else is he doing, not waking up?” Sapp said. “The next job you have is rushing the quarterback, young man, getting ready for the NFL. If you wake up every morning and you’re not prepared to go out and do the things you have to be either be an outside linebacker or pass rushing specialist, what else is there?
“You can blow your knee out walking your doggy. So why would you not work out for a team that has twenty million-plus dollars for you?”
Evans was just as harsh.
“There’s just so many little things about this kid that deter you from getting on his side,” he said. “This kid turns down private workouts? He says, ‘Well, I don’t want to get hurt.’ You should be training harder on the day that you’re not at a private workout than how hard they would work you on the private workout.”
Of course, Sapp had to throw in some crap about how he is a first-ballot Hall of Famer who was happy to work out for NFL teams when they wanted him to, but both he and Evans have a point. You can understand Clowney not wanting to risk injury, but he must be working out anyway. Why not get a head start on working with NFL teams?
