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On Monday the Jadeveon Clowney trade rumors started percolating. Non-insiders claimed from mysterious sources that Clowney could possibly be traded. He wasn’t. Then yesterday happened. John McClain said he’d be surprised if Clowney wasn’t traded. Mike Lombardi buckled down on this report as well.
I’ll be surprised if Jadeveon Clowney isn’t traded. They need an upgrade at LT to protect Deshaun Watson. LTs don’t grow on trees so I have no idea who it would be at this time of year.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) August 13, 2019
Clowney is being shopped, wrote it yesterday and the great @McClain_on_NFL would be shocked if he was NOT traded. Solving the Texans requirements for the trade (they will be reasonable) won't be hard for teams, solving the money for Clowney will be.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) August 13, 2019
In case you forgot, the Texans had a little more than $70 million in cap space to start this offseason, and franchise tagged Jadeveon Clowney. The idea was that this was a fail safe so they could work to extend him without worrying about him signing somewhere else. Then rumors whirled around and eventually turned into a maelstrom that Houston was looking to move Clowney, then the deadline passed to extend him and Houston could no longer offer a long term contract until next season, and now, the Texans are looking to move him despite reports coming out that Clowney was expected to report to camp after the third preseason game.
No one knows what the truth is or what to believe. This Clowney contract has been a maze, a criss-cross of zigzagging lines, what is said one day is soon to contradict another on a different day.
What’s clear is that Clowney is a top run defender in the league, should get better as a pass rusher even though he’s already a very good one, and the Texans’ defense depends on both him and Watt to create their pass rush and lead the best run defense in football. Without him, and this schedule, this season would be filled with plenty of 34-27 losses. Additionally, Clowney is entering the prime of his career and has been healthy for the last three seasons.
Trading Clowney would be foolish, especially this late in the offseason. Hopefully the report from last week remains true, and Clowney is back jovial and smiling after the Texans play the Dallas Cowboys on August 24th.