Jadeveon Clowney won’t play for Seahawks on Sunday. He’s been felled by the flu

The Seahawks won’t have their top pass rusher for a game that they almost must win.

The team announced Friday it had downgraded Jadeveon Clowney from questionable to out for Sunday’s game at Carolina (5-8).

The three-time Pro Bowl defensive end has missed practices this week because he’s the latest Seahawk to get the flu that’s been rolling through the locker room the last three weeks.

Clowney also has been playing through a core-muscle injury that may require surgery after this season.

Clowney’s contract ends after this season. He persuaded a sports-hernia specialist to hold off surgery so he could play out this season.

If the Seahawks (10-3) win the final three games of the regular season, they will win the NFC West. That will assure a home-playoff game and likely a first-round bye.

Gregg Bell

The News Tribune

Gregg Bell is the Seahawks and NFL writer for The News Tribune. He is a two-time Washington state sportswriter of the year, voted by the National Sports Media Association in January 2023 and January 2019. He started covering the NFL in 2002 as the Oakland Raiders beat writer for The Sacramento Bee. The Ohio native began covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season of 2005. In a prior life he graduated from West Point and served as a tactical intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, so he may ask you to drop and give him 10. Support my work with a digital subscription