Grading the Seahawks trade for Jadeveon Clowney

The Seahawks made a huge move and traded for Jadeveon Clowney on Saturday. Here is the grade for the move.

On paper, the Seahawks look like they stole Jadeveon Clowney from the Texans. In Saturday’s trade, Seattle sent linebackers Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo and a future third-round pick for Clowney. Mingo will get paid $4 million for being a special teams players really. Martin is all potential at this point. And Seattle had two picks in the third round on 2020. The question is how good Clowney will be in Seattle?

Clowney is a talented player, of course, but he has yet to put up a double-digit sack season. He still gets pressure on opposing quarterbacks frequently, however, and he will only be helped by Seattle having Ziggy Ansah on the other end of the defensive line. Maybe the one area where Clowney most helps Seattle is in stopping the run.

In 2018, Clowney had the second best grade among defensive ends against the run, according to Pro Football Focus. Last year the Seahawks had Frank Clark to get to opposing quarterbacks but Clark wasn’t great against the run. Seattle struggled in that area. Clowney will help that tremendously.

The way Clowney makes Seattle better and a championship contender in 2019 is to do two things. Stay healthy for nearly the entire year, if not all the season, and continue to be dominant against the run. If Clowney gets to 10 sacks this season, great. But he doesn’t have to do that for the Seahawks to be great. He just needs to take some of the focus off of Ansah when a quarterback drops back.

No offense to Mingo, Martin and that future third round pick, but Seattle stole Clowney from the Texans. Maybe he is a one year rental, but if Seattle gets close to a Super Bowl he was worth it. Plus, Seattle kept its second round picks and above in 2020. The Seahawks getting Clowney the way they did was perfect.

Grade: A