The way Houston is running its offseason, it almost looks like they don't have a General Manager. Oh wait, they don't. They've now traded away Jadeveon Clowney for a pair of backup linebackers and a future third-round pick. Had they made this trade back before July 15, they'd likely have got a lot more.
Since that deadline for signing franchise players has passed, Clowney must play on a one-year deal, and Seattle can't guarantee they'll still have him beyond this season. But they probably don't care, since they gave up very little to obtain his services for at least this season. A 3rd-rounder. Barkevious Mingo, who has a cool name but only 10 career sacks -- 5 total in his last five seasons. Ian Rapoport calls him a pass rusher. OK. He also notes that the other player in the deal, Jake Martin, is a perfect fit for Houston's system. Maybe it's Martin who should be called a pass rusher, since he had 3 sacks last season.
What's clear, anyway, is that Houston got robbed by this deal, as seemed likely to be the case all along. Seattle's defense gets one of the league's better pass rushers, at least for the 2019 season, for a song. And it needed it, having traded away Frank Clark, signed Ziggy Ansah (currently dealing with a groin injury) and lost Jarran Reed for six games to a suspension.
Clowney has an injury history, which wiped out virtually all of his rookie season and made him, initially, look like a suspect pick atop the 2014 draft. But he's also missed a total of only six games in four seasons since, and just one game the last two years, so those worries look a little overblown. The last three seasons, he's been one of the most productive pass rushers in the league.
Since 2016, 62 players have racked up at least 15 sacks. Clowney's got 24.5 in that span, while also totaling 53 tackles for losses -- 3rd-most in the league behind Aaron Donald (57) and Chandler Jones (56). His combined total of sacks and tackles for losses is better than all but seven players.
| TOP PASS RUSHERS, 2016-2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Sk | TFL | Tot |
| Chandler Jones | 48 | 41.0 | 56 | 97.0 |
| Aaron Donald | 46 | 39.5 | 57 | 96.5 |
| Cameron Jordan | 48 | 32.5 | 52 | 84.5 |
| Von Miller | 48 | 38.0 | 44 | 82.0 |
| Ryan Kerrigan | 48 | 37.0 | 44 | 81.0 |
| Calais Campbell | 48 | 33.0 | 46 | 79.0 |
| Danielle Hunter | 48 | 34.0 | 44 | 78.0 |
| Jadeveon Clowney | 45 | 24.5 | 53 | 77.5 |
| Khalil Mack | 46 | 34.0 | 39 | 73.0 |
| Michael Bennett | 43 | 22.5 | 43 | 65.5 |
| Geno Atkins | 48 | 28.0 | 36 | 64.0 |
| Joey Bosa | 35 | 28.5 | 35 | 63.5 |
| Frank Clark | 47 | 32.0 | 31 | 63.0 |
| Jason Pierre-Paul | 44 | 28.0 | 34 | 62.0 |
| Mario Addison | 46 | 29.5 | 32 | 61.5 |
| Terrell Suggs | 47 | 26.0 | 35 | 61.0 |
| Akiem Hicks | 48 | 23.0 | 38 | 61.0 |
| Melvin Ingram | 48 | 25.5 | 35 | 60.5 |
| Yannick Ngakoue | 48 | 29.5 | 29 | 58.5 |
| Demarcus Lawrence | 41 | 26.0 | 32 | 58.0 |
| Brandon Graham | 47 | 19.0 | 38 | 57.0 |
| Dee Ford | 37 | 25.0 | 29 | 54.0 |
| Chris Jones | 48 | 24.0 | 29 | 53.0 |
| Cameron Heyward | 38 | 23.0 | 30 | 53.0 |
| Everson Griffen | 42 | 26.5 | 26 | 52.5 |
| Justin Houston | 32 | 22.5 | 30 | 52.5 |
| Vic Beasley | 46 | 25.5 | 26 | 51.5 |
| Bruce Irvin | 48 | 21.5 | 30 | 51.5 |
| Cameron Wake | 46 | 28.0 | 23 | 51.0 |
| Carlos Dunlap | 48 | 23.5 | 27 | 50.5 |
| Lorenzo Alexander | 48 | 22.0 | 28 | 50.0 |
| Olivier Vernon | 39 | 22.0 | 28 | 50.0 |
| DeForest Buckner | 47 | 21.0 | 29 | 50.0 |
| Matt Judon | 46 | 19.0 | 31 | 50.0 |
| Jerry Hughes | 48 | 17.0 | 33 | 50.0 |
| Jurrell Casey | 46 | 18.0 | 31 | 49.0 |
| Fletcher Cox | 46 | 22.5 | 26 | 48.5 |
| Kawann Short | 46 | 16.5 | 31 | 47.5 |
| Julius Peppers | 48 | 23.5 | 23 | 46.5 |
| Trey Flowers | 45 | 21.0 | 25 | 46.0 |
| Malik Jackson | 48 | 18.0 | 28 | 46.0 |
| Jabaal Sheard | 47 | 16.0 | 30 | 46.0 |
| Denico Autry | 44 | 16.5 | 28 | 44.5 |
| Gerald McCoy | 44 | 19.0 | 24 | 43.0 |
| Ezekiel Ansah | 34 | 18.0 | 25 | 43.0 |
| T.J. Watt | 31 | 20.0 | 22 | 42.0 |
| Bud Dupree | 38 | 16.0 | 26 | 42.0 |
| Myles Garrett | 27 | 20.5 | 21 | 41.5 |
| Clay Matthews | 42 | 16.0 | 24 | 40.0 |
| Nick Perry | 35 | 19.5 | 20 | 39.5 |
| J.J. Watt | 24 | 17.5 | 22 | 39.5 |
| Preston Smith | 48 | 16.5 | 23 | 39.5 |
| Brian Orakpo | 45 | 19.0 | 20 | 39.0 |
| Robert Quinn | 40 | 19.0 | 20 | 39.0 |
| Leonard Floyd | 38 | 15.5 | 23 | 38.5 |
| Markus Golden | 31 | 15.0 | 22 | 37.0 |
| Kyler Fackrell | 45 | 15.5 | 19 | 34.5 |
| Derrick Morgan | 42 | 17.0 | 17 | 34.0 |
| Dante Fowler | 47 | 16.0 | 18 | 34.0 |
| Adrian Clayborn | 43 | 16.5 | 17 | 33.5 |
| Erik Walden | 32 | 15.0 | 15 | 30.0 |
| Chris Long | 48 | 15.5 | 12 | 27.5 |
Depending on scoring system, I had Seattle as kind of a middle of the pack defense before this trade. This gives them more of a chance of being a top-10 type of option. Their pass rush will definitely be better.
--Andy Richardson