Seahawks need to get creative with Jadeveon Clowney to maximize his value

Trading away just a third-round pick, Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo for Jadeveon Clowney already sets the bar low in terms of what the Seattle Seahawks need Clowney to do from a production standpoint to net a positive return on investment. Clowney’s floor is an elite run defender with inconsistent pass-rushing production. His ceiling, of course, is one of which Seattle’s brass should chase.

Clowney has never been an elite pass-rusher off the edge, and while he’s flashed high-end talent in bursts, he’s never sustained that level of success across large sample sizes. He’s never earned a single-season pass-rush grade above 78.8 (2018), and his career pass-rush grade (79.2) ranks just 25th among the 78 NFL edge defenders with 1,000 or more defensive snaps over the past five seasons (2014-18).

Fortunately for Clowney and Seattle’s defense, a shift in pre-snap alignment for the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder could lead to an uptick in pass-rush production.