Texans Trade Jadeveon Clowney To Seahawks For Barkevious Mingo, Jacob Martin, Third Round Pick

I grew up in Houston in the 1970s watching some of the worst football imaginable. Over the years, the Houston Astros went through some serious ownership problems. But this, this right here, is kittening embarrassing:

It’s not just that we got nothing for Jadeveon Clowney; we’d already backed ourselves into that corner. It’s not just that Clowney’s situation was handled with all the grace and intelligence I expect from Bill O’Brien. No, it’s that this entire offseason has been one giant clusterkitten for the Houston Texans.

As for what we received player-wise, Barkevious Mingo is a former sixth overall pick from the 2013 NFL Draft, but he never became an actual football player. Turning 29, the chances are better than not he continues to play at replacement level at best. Five of Mingo’s 10 career sacks came during his rookie year, after all.

Jacob Martin is a solid SPARQ athlete at the EDGE. Here’s a writeup from our sister blog, Field Gulls. Martin, at least, looks like a solid sub-package pass rusher.

There will be plenty of time to talk about the ramifications of this deal. One thing that sticks out the most for me is that we now have just one player who is good about getting to the QB, J.J. Watt. Whitney Mercilus will be better by being back in his better position on the edge, but he’s no Clowney. And there’s no replacement behind Mercilus.

The Houston Texans spent most of the offseason either not improving or actively making themselves worse. This is just the latest evidence of that reality.

UPDATE I: Via Cap’n Ron:

UPDATE II: Also via the good Cap’n:

UPDATE III:

UPDATE IV: The acquisition of Jadeveon Clowney was even better than we thought for the Seahawks. They’re only paying a little more than half of his salary in 2019, with the Texans agreeing to pay $7 million of it. Clowney also managed to get Seattle to pledge not to tag him in 2020.