Welcome back to me! If you want to know what my 5-week road trip was like, I did a pretty good job blowing up my Instagram page with tons of photos. Now, back to sports.

The Seattle sports scene did a pretty good job of waiting until I got back this weekend before exploding with news. #1 with a bullet, of course, is the trade for Clowney. We’ve known about his being disgruntled with the franchise tag for some time now, and that there was always an outside chance that the Texans might move on from him if they found the right deal. I never expected that he’d have the kind of power he had in forcing a deal to a particular team, and I certainly never expected that the Seahawks would be on his short list of preferred destinations. At that point, we held pretty much all the cards, and it was up to the Texans to either bow to our whims, or let Clowney sit out there in another Le’Veon Bell situation.

For as much as people are killing the Texans in this whole thing, they at least made the decision to not let this be a distraction for their entire season. They made the choice to not extend him on a long-term deal, and you can disagree with that all you want, but such a deal obviously comes with some risks. I mean, we’re talking about a guy who missed almost his entire rookie year, and a few games the following year. Yes, he followed that up with three straight Pro Bowl campaigns, but honestly they were pretty quiet compared to what you’d expect from a #1 overall draft pick. He’s never had double-digit sacks; combine that with injury concerns, and I find it more reasonable for the Texans to want to move on than it was for the Seahawks to want to move on from a stud like Frank Clark, who’s always been healthy and HAS had double-digit sacks, twice.

Now, the obvious argument is that the Texans didn’t utilize him properly, that a 3-4 defense isn’t as suited to his particular set of skills (and that dropping him into coverage half the time isn’t the best way to maximize his pass rushing ability). I agree wholeheartedly, and I believe that if he stays healthy for the Seahawks this year, he WILL get double-digit sacks, and maybe into the mid-to-high teens! Let him JUST rush the passer, and bring him from all over the line of scrimmage on every down, and watch him absolutely destroy fools! This is my guarantee.

On top of it, we’re talking about a ridiculously low cost to the Seahawks. The 3rd round pick might be the most valuable part of what we gave away! Barkevious Mingo was going to be a cap cut one way or another. And, while we all liked Jacob Martin, he’s another guy who’s probably better suited to our defense than Houston’s. If they drop Martin into coverage half the time – like Clowney – I think they’ll find him pretty lacking. Whereas, if he stayed with the Seahawks and was just our LEO end exclusively in pass rushing situations, he’d probably find his sack totals would exceed whatever he’ll do in Houston. Tack on the fact that the Texans are essentially paying half of Clowney’s salary this year, and it’s honestly laughable that the NFL allowed this deal to pass through. This is the EPITOME of one of those deals you see other teams make, where we ask ourselves, “WHY COULDN’T OUR TEAM HAVE DONE THAT??? YOU’RE TELLING ME WE COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN UP MORE TO GET THIS STUD???”

But that’s just it. He wanted to come to Seattle (or Philly, who curiously didn’t ever seem to be in on this), because we’re a well-run organization where star players like Clowney can thrive. It’s weird to be able to say that, because it’s the polar opposite to how I feel about the Mariners.

Even with Ansah looking like he’ll be ready to go by Sunday, the pass rush was always going to be a disaster for this team. However, with Clowney in the fold, we’re ALMOST back to our glory days of 2013. I’d still like to see some of our depth take a step forward; either Collier or Green will need to turn into something somewhat productive by season’s end if we’re going to take this thing over the top. But now, it’s at least much less of a concern. Our secondary is a different matter, but let’s take this thing one step at a time.

Before this deal, you REALLY had to squint to see a path for the Seahawks to win the NFC West and contend for a Super Bowl. After this deal, the picture is becoming much clearer.