NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe said: “I will say, from a very reliable source, at the NFL owner’s meeting, there was a very heated conversation between Woody (Johnson) and Robert Saleh to the point that is was a little bit awkward. What were they arguing about? At the party last night. I’m just saying. Who knows?”
Former NFL GM Mike Lombardi said on VSIN: “That (discussion) was on Monday. Then we find out (Wednesday) Clowney signed with the Panthers. To me, that conversation probably was, and this is all speculation, that Saleh wanted to get the offer up on Clowney. He wanted Clowney. They thought they were getting Clowney to replace Bryce Huff and they didn’t get him.”
Obviously the only people who knew what Saleh and Johnson were talking about, whatever the tone, were the coach and owner, and other Jets officials who might have been there.
But that certainly is a creative guess by Lombardi on what they might have been talking about. There is no doubt conversations about Jadeveon Clowney between the Jets owner, coach and GM took place at some point in Orlando as the negotiations with the free-agent defensive end were coming down the home stretch.
Johnson took to Twitter to deny Wolfe’s report: “All this nonsense about a heated argument between Coach Saleh and me at the League Meeting is absolutely false. It is yet another irresponsible report from NFL Network. Please disregard.”
But one thing you can’t disregard is that they didn’t land Clowney, so their search for another edge-rusher will continue.
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