I really like his potential, but for those that actually want to sign him …
He’s accumulated almost as many penalty yards as he has as his combined sack /TFL yardage.
Sort of a damning statistic.
I’d say the downs matter more than the yards.
If he gets a TFL or a sack on 3rd down, that’s way huge.
I wonder how many of those penalty yards are from offsides/encroachment/neutral zone, too. Maybe some ticky tack roughing the passer calls, too.
Plus, there’s the unmeasurables. The fear that guy presents causes offenses to react. His presence may have caused more picks than he’ll ever even come close to getting credit for.
Some are fixable. Taunting… Probably neutral zone infractions are very fixable.
I’d love to have that crazy man on our defense.
You did a wonderful job of selling me on a few of his numerous positives, but aside from “they dont mean much,” I’m surprised you didnt really address the penalties.
Of all the fanbases I’ve spent time with, the Lions fanbase seems to be the ones who hate stupid, ill-timed and ill-advised penalties the most. 
I’d still sign him in a heartbeat. I caught most of their game last week. He did commit three penalties in the game - but that critical roughing the passer call at the end was complete bullshit. They only called it because Foles didn’t get up right away. The hit was clean
Clowney was a monster both against the run and as a pass rusher. He racked up a sack, two hits and five hurries, and added six other tackles that resulted in defensive stops
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I believe I addressed the penalties. Raising the issue of the types of penalties (such as those one might expect from an aggressive pass rusher, such as offsides/neutral zone infraction, encroachment), whether easily remedied or if they were justified and even provided supporting evidence in the form of articles.
I totally addressed the penalties.
Then I guess I can’t get over them, because I don’t see it as a good enough justification for a guy that would shatter the bank.
Offsides, encroachment, etc, just the cost of doing business for a high motor producer. They’re on a hair trigger. Sometimes the gun goes off. I’m not worried about that. I’d be more worried if he were constantly late off the block. You have different standards, and that’s fine.
I would look at how many of those yards are those and how many penalties were crucial. Then I’d weigh them against the positives.
I’m not saying penalties are good, by any stretch, but I am saying that one penalty is not the the others.
It would be interesting (and more productive) to get a total breakdown of the penalty/sack yards, that’s for sure.
I am always in favor of getting more context to everything.
I’m not sure I care about sack yards as much as sacks, just because it’s more the stop of the play (and the hit on the QB because that makes them look over their shoulder) for me than the yards. I would also include hurries and failed passes due to pressure almost the same as sacks.
It’s all about his effect on the offense.
Stats are indicators, but don’t hardly ever tell the whole story unless in context.
I mean, I’d rather 20 hurries and 2 sacks than 5 sacks and 10 hurries. It’s the pressure and the threat of pressure that you don’t see in the sack stat.