The Seattle Seahawks made a trade before the 2019 season to acquire Jadeveon Clowney from the Houston Texans. Now, it’s the start of April and he remains an unrestricted free agent.

It was clear before the offseason began that Clowney was going to try to maximize his potential earnings in free agency, and rightfully so. With DeForest Buckner earning a deal worth an average of $21M annually from the Indianapolis Colts, the price will be very high to sign Clowney.

Looking back on the deal, the Seahawks didn’t end up giving up that much for Clowney relatively speaking. They sent Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo along with a third-round pick to the Texans. Basically, they didn’t have to significantly deplete their assets to pull it off.

The Seahawks may need to start looking into what the alternative options are for them in the event Clowney were to depart. It would be obviously less than ideal to trade for a player and keep them for just one season, but it wouldn’t leave them without options.

During the 2019 season, Clowney appeared in 13 games (11 starts) and totaled 31 combined tackles (seven for loss), three sacks, 13 QB hits, and four forced fumbles. He didn’t completely get to the quarterback often but he did frequently apply pressure.

With that being said, there are four potential backup options that stick out for the Seahawks if Jadeveon Clowney were to leave.