As A Son And A Brother, I Think We Should Cut Jadeveon Clowney Some Slack

Jadeveon Clowney's time with the Browns seems to be at an end. He will be a free agent heading into the offseason, and the final few weeks he spent in Cleveland were not pleasant. He was held out of the team's season finale against the Steelers after telling Cleveland.com that he was "95 percent sure" that he wouldn't be re-signing with the team, and that he needed to "be around somebody that believes in me and my ability."

Clowney's angst was born out of his belief that his coaches were handing favorable in-game matchups to fellow edge rusher Myles Garrett, and in doing so decreased Clowney's chances of racking up a respectable number of sacks. Clowney finished the season with two sacks in 10 games, while Garrett managed 16 in 16 games. Clowney told Cleveland.com that the Browns "got their own guys, and I ain’t one of them, so it’s time for me to get my exit slip.”

Garrett had the chance to respond to Clowney's outburst last Friday, and he seemed mostly bemused. "If I'm the most double-teamed guy, it's hard to say I'm getting the most favorable matchups," he told reporters before adding, "If you feel like no one believes in you here, then go where you feel like you're wanted and loved and appreciated."

All of which brings us to today, and Clowney's official apology:

Perhaps you are wondering why this statement begins with the phrase, "as a son and a parent." You might be thinking: I don't think anyone's capabilities as a son or a father were being discussed in this situation. What exactly do the facts that Jadeveon Clowney was born into this life, and then later sired a child of his own, have to do with him being upset about not getting better matchups?

It is just so typical for someone like you to ask a question like that. Clowney's meaning is extremely easy for me, as a son and a brother, to understand, but I guess it was naive of me to assume that siblingless non-sons would also be able to pick up what he was putting down. It's not necessarily your fault that you'll never know what it's like to be both a son and a brother—what are you, anyway? A nephew and a father? An aunt and a great aunt?—but you could really work on your ability to better empathize with those whose life experiences are different from you own. In fact, as an uncle, I demand that you do so.