Reports: All-in Seahawks about to steal pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney from Houston in trade
The Seahawks are indeed going for it.
They are stealing Jadeveon Clowney from Houston.
They are finalizing a trade with the Texans to bring holdout defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle to help rescue a needy pass rush, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer plus multiple reports out of Houston Saturday morning.
The price Seattle reportedly is paying Houston to acquire the top overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft and possible fix to their pass-rushing woes who is just entering his prime at age 26: a third-round draft choice, second-year edge rusher Jacob Martin and pass rusher Barkevious Mingo. That’s according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
That’s doors-left-unlocked, safe-left-wide-open, and no-one-called-the-cops-afterward stealing.
Mingo was failing in Seattle in a conversion from off-the-ball linebacker last season to on-the-line defensive end this summer. He rarely won a rep in pass-rushing drills against even reserve offensive linemen in practices. Mingo got knocked back repeatedly Thursday night in the preseason finale by reserve Oakland Raiders linemen, and lost contain on a 17-yard run.
The Seahawks were likely going to cut Mingo and his $4.1 million salary-cap charge for 2019 by Saturday’s 1 p.m. deadline to set their first roster of the regular season.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was one of many around the Pacific Northwest thrilled with Saturday morning’s coup.
Clowney has been holding out from Houston’s preseason because he didn’t want to play under the franchise tag the Texans had given him at $15.97 million for 2019.
Seattle now assumes that cost. Gladly.
The Seahawks’ three highest-paid players are now Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Clowney.
Since had yet to sign his franchise-tag tender, Clowney was not under contract with Houston and had to approve the team to which the Texans were trading him. He reportedly wanted to go to Seattle and Philadelphia. That further reduced Houston’s trading leverage with Seattle.
The players the Seahawks gave up show how much Clowney reduced Houston’s bargaining power.
Running back Le’Veon Bell holding out all of last season when Pittsburgh franchise-tagged him, then getting a new megabucks deal from the Jets this spring showed NFL stars how to use the best leverage they have: withholding services to their teams. Such teams fear they cannot afford to lose those angry players for next to nothing. They feel they have to deal the disgruntled stars to get something in return while getting out of the impasses that affect the entire team and locker room.
In this case, the Seahawks benefit from Houston’s mess.
The trade shows Seahawks general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll believe not only that they are one piece—Clowney—away from contending for the Super Bowl but that they can re-sign him to a longer-term deal after this season ends.
NFL rules state Clowney, after getting a franchise tag, can only play this season under a one-year contract, even if traded. He cannot get a multi-year deal until after the end of the regular season, after late December.
Seattle takes on Clowney’s $15.97 million salary for 2019. To help create salary-cap space for him, the Seahawks released veteran wide receiver Jaron Brown and defensive end Cassius Marsh. That saved $4 million against the cap for this year.
The Seahawks have been down a similar path with the Texans recently. In 2017 Seattle traded for Texans holdout left tackle Duane Brown. That was in October, in the middle of the season. He played out that half season with Seattle on a one-year deal. The Seahawks then signed the Pro Bowl veteran to a three-year contract the following summer. He remains the best offensive lineman Seattle has, and Houston still needs a left tackle.
Houston also needs a lead running back, after losing Lamar Miller to a season-ending knee injury last weekend.
Seattle didn’t have give up any of those to get Clowney. He is unlikely to sulk when he arrives with the Seahawks. He is going to be motivated to earn a huge, multiyear contract after 2019.
Plus, Brown is his teammate again.
The deal gives the Seahawks what, on paper eight days before the season begins, is the most formidable defensive front seven Carroll has had in his decade leading Seattle.
The defensive line is now Ziggy Ansah and Clowney as the ends, with Jarran Reed (though suspended for the first six games) and Poona Ford at tackle. Plus, rookie first-round draft choice L.J. Collier may return to practice this coming week. Collier, an end, has been out a month with a sprained foot near the ankle. He ran extensively and well before the final preseason game Thursday.
Collier now doesn’t have to rush back from his injury to carry more mail as a rookie. He can develop while in a supporting role behind Clowney and Ansah, who hasn’t played as many as 500 snaps (31 per game) since 2015, his Pro Bowl season with Detroit.
The linebackers are the best of Carroll’s Seahawks tenure: All-Pro Wagner in the middle, Pro Bowl veteran K.J. Wright on the weakside and athletic, versatile Mychal Kendricks at strongside. All three have started Super Bowls.
That’ll work. Especially at the relatively minimal cost the Seahawks just spent to add Clowney to that lineup.
Adding Clowney also stands to help starting cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers.
When their predecessors in the famed “Legion of Boom” were at their best, the Seahawks had Chris Clemons, Michael Bennett, Red Bryant, Cliff Avril and friends on a deep defensive line consistently pressuring quarterbacks to get the ball out more quickly than they and their receivers preferred. That made Seattle’s coverage all the better.
After the Seahawks traded top sack man Frank Clark to Kansas City this spring because they didn’t want to pay him $20 million per season, Griffin and Flowers lost their best asset in having to cover receivers for shorter times during pass plays.
Clowney arriving and Ansah getting back on the field should reduce Griffin’s and Flowers’ time to cover again.
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 8:55 AM.
