Grading Jadeveon Clowney trade for Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans

Jadveon Clowney is getting his wish with the Houston Texans trading him to the Seattle Seahawks but how did both teams fare in the trade?

When Jadeveon Clowney reportedly came out with his preferred trade destinations, the Seattle Seahawks were one of the teams on that list. Now, it appears that the first overall pick from the 2014 NFL Draft will get his wish as the Houston Texans send him to the Pacific Northwest.

As reported by Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Seahawks and Texans have agreed to a trade that will send Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle in exchange for a third-round pick and two players that will go to Houston.

Throughout the trade saga with Clowney, it seemed like the Texans would try to address one of their biggest needs in any possible deal, adding either a running back in the wake of Lamar Miller tearing his ACL or an offensive lineman. Thus, the initial reaction seemed to be that the Seahawks would send someone like Germain Ifedi, Justin Britt or even one of their many running backs to the Texans.

Instead, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Aaron Reiss of The Athletic first reported that the two players coming to Houston were linebackers. Wilson supplemented that report, naming outside linebackers Barkevious Mingo and Jacob Martin as the players being exchanged for Clowney.

This is an NFL-shaking trade, without question. However, let’s look at the deal in full and hand out grades to both the Seahawks and Texans for what they were able to do with this trade.

Seattle Seahawks Grade

There’s no question that this is a curious move for the Seahawks given the way the early 2019 offseason transpired. Seattle had their own edge rusher under the franchise tag and elected not to pay Frank Clark, trading him to the Kansas City Chiefs. They have since tried to piece together their defensive line but didn’t have a game-changer like Clark or Clowney on the roster.

Aside from the curiosity of circumstance, though, this is a coup for the Seahawks. The organization dramatically improved their defense and their chances of competing for a playoff spot for the price of a Day 2 draft pick and some defensive depth. That’s a small price to pay for a player like Clowney who has the ability to come in and be a game-changer from his first day on the field.

On top of that, even if they don’t want to pay Clowney with a long-term deal after the 2019 season, they set themselves up beautifully to recoup their draft pick when compensatory selections are awarded. All told, the Seahawks handled this masterfully.

Trade Grade: A

Houston Texans Grade

I’m not sure there’s a way that the Texans could have done a worse job in this situation. Given the team’s needs, the caliber of player they traded away and everything else, this is horrendous.

Look, I understand that Houston was in a position where they had to trade Jadeveon Clowney. If he wasn’t going to show up for the regular season, they were simply sitting on assets and letting them depreciate in value. As anyone will tell you, that’s bad business.

At the same time, though, they allowed themselves to lose all leverage in this situation with Clowney’s list of preferred teams and his trump card of not having signed his tender. Furthermore, when they did finally agree to a trade, they failed to address the two biggest areas of concern — offensive line and running back — with what they got in return.

That isn’t to say that the Texans weren’t smart for tagging Clowney in order to get something in return. But getting defensive depth at linebacker and a mid-round pick when those aren’t primary concerns is a move that should have everyone scratching their heads on repeat. They botched this royally and are going to suffer because of it.

Trade Grade: F+