Bradley McDougald has work to do in Jadeveon Clowney Jets recruitment

Bradley McDougald is making the move from the Seahawks to the Jets and he has an idea of another player he would like to see make the same move — Jadeveon Clowney.

McDougald, who came to the Jets last weekend in the Jamal Adams trade, said he is good friends with Clowney and he believes the free agent edge rusher would help the Jets.

“I would definitely go to bat for Jadeveon Clowney,” McDougald said.

It is surprising that Clowney remains a free agent and perhaps indicates his asking price remains too high. The Jets have shown minimal interest in Clowney and general manager Joe Douglas has approached free agency judiciously. It would be a shock if he reversed course and handed out big money to Clowney now.

Still, you can’t blame McDougald for trying.

“I know the type of player Jadeveon is,” McDougald said. “He wants to be in a camp somewhere. He wants to play. He’s a ballplayer, a hell of a ballplayer. I asked him, I’m like, ‘hey man, I’m over here now, you may as well come.’ We laughed about it. I mean, at this point in his career, he does want money, but he wants to play as well. If a team comes with the right offer and they approach him the right way, it could be very possible that he could be a Jet.”

Submit your Jets questions here to be answered in an upcoming Post mailbag

McDougald said he would lobby for the Jets to sign Clowney, but acknowledged it probably won’t work.

“I don’t know how much of a voice I have with them. That’s above my pay grade,” McDougald said.

The Jets have a need at edge rusher. Jordan Jenkins and Tarell Basham are their projected starters at the moment. Clowney only had three sacks last year in Seattle but was a Pro Bowl player for the Texans in the three years before that.

As for McDougald, he sounded excited to be with the Jets after the shock of the trade faded last weekend. He said he felt “abandoned” by Seattle at first but then saw the positive side with the Jets wanting him.

McDougald is not a stranger to replacing a top player. He took over for Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas in Seattle. Now he will be stepping into Adams’ role here.

“This isn’t me being here to replace Jamal,” McDougald said. “This is me here as a fresh start. Just the same way that I couldn’t be Kam and I couldn’t be Earl, but I still found my way to be successful. It’s the same way with this. It was above me. It’s not like I came in and I was like, ‘you know what, I’m about to take Jamal’s job.’ I got traded. That’s that. I’m coming here to be the best me. I can’t be Jamal. I’m not the same person as Jamal. The only thing I can do is show up every day and be the best Bradley McDougald and hopefully that wins my coaches, my players and the fans over.”

Defensive lineman Steve McLendon was the first Jets player asked about the allegations of sexist and racist remarks by owner Woody Johnson that were reported last week. McLendon said: “I’m not going to speak on him or any of the comments that he said or made, and I don’t pass judgment on anybody. At the end of the day, he will be held accountable for his actions. I’m not even going to speak on that. Whatever he said, he said. It’s out there. I have a great deal of respect for Christopher (Johnson). I’m going to let them handle that in any sort of fashion they want to handle that.”