Clowney just can't win. I haven't read a thing about him doing poorly in interviews. Only interview things I've read are people on the internet psychoanalyzing his press conference. 21 reps on the bench? I wasn't shocked by that at all. Bench press is probably the most meaningless measurable in the combine. It's basically a test to see a guy's weight room habits and it's pass or fail. On rare occasion, if a guy does amazingly well, it'll reaffirm just how strong he is. But typically, unless you do disastrously bad(Damontre Moore), there's not much meaning in it.
For reference, a few guys that did about the same or worse from this draft class and others...keep in mind that the longer your arms are, the harder it is:
Khalil Mack - 23 reps
Anthony Barr - 15 reps
Kyle Van Noy - 21 reps
Kony Ealy - 22 reps
Trent Murphy - 19 reps
DeMarcus Lawrence - 20 reps
Kareem Martin - 22 reps
Jackson Jeffcoat - 18 reps
Marcus Smith - 23 reps
Michael Sam - 17 reps
Jarvis Jones - 20 reps
Von Miller - 21 reps
Clay Matthews - 23 reps
Ziggy Ansah - 21 reps
Chandler Jones - 22 reps
Robert Quinn - 22 reps
Aldon Smith - 20 reps
Jason Pierre-Paul - 19 reps
Carlos Dunlap - 21 reps
Greg Hardy - 21 reps
Calais Campbell - 16 reps
Kevin Williams - 23 reps
I don't think anyone would question the strength of Robert Quinn or Calais Campbell or Aldon Smith. Yet here people are criticizing Clowney for only getting 21 reps. The kid has 34.5 inch arms. Anyone expecting him to pump out 40 reps was mistaken. I would have been pleasantly surprising if he did 25 or 26.
You wanna know the crazy thing? Look at his build and just imagine what a NFL S&C Coach can do with him. He's 266 right now and it looks to me like it won't be a challenge packing 15 more pounds on his build in the NFL.