While Duane Brown didn’t have any part of negotiations trade terms between the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks, the veteran left tackle did play a part in selling Jadeveon Clowney on Seattle as a potential destination.
Clowney credited Brown and his relationship with his former Texans’ teammate as being one of the big selling points on wanting to follow Brown to Seattle as the Texans looked to trade him last week. Brown said he just told Clowney about what his experience had been with the Seahawks since being dealt to Seattle and that it could be a great fit for him as well.
“I had just been keeping in touch with himself throughout the offseason because I’d been in a similar situation with my contract dispute and just checking in with him, making sure his head was good and he was in good spirits and working hard without any knowledge that this could even take place,” Brown said.
“I just told the truth. I just told him how I felt here, my experience here about the culture, about the staff, about the team, the locker room. From there he just said ‘man, that sounds like somewhere I would love to be.’ And I was like ‘you would love it.’ From there things just started to progress and I just gave people my input on just my experience with Clowney.”
Brown and Clowney spent three-plus seasons together in Houston before Brown was traded to Seattle in October 2017. Brown had held out in seeking a new contract from Houston and ended up having disagreements with owner Bob McNair over anthem protests and McNair’s comments in an ownership meeting about not letting the “inmates run the prison.” After returning to play a game against Seattle, Brown was traded to the Seahawks.
Brown has felt embraced in Seattle and signed a contract extension with the team in July 2018. He sold his experiences to Clowney, which helped pave the way for the two to become teammates again over the weekend. Brown believes Clowney will be a big boost to Seattle’s defense in pairing with Ziggy Ansah at defensive end.
“It’s scary, man,” Brown said.. “It’s scary. Obviously Clowney and Ziggy on the edge. Poona Ford I think is going to be a star in this league. We get (Jarran) Reed back. Bobby (Wagner) and K.J. (Wright) have been staples on this defense and in the league for a long time playing at a high level. (Mychal) Kendricks is a very, very great athlete. Also someone that can rush the passer when asked to.
“I think it just got real. It just got real for other offenses, you know what I mean? I’m looking forward to it. We’re going to do our part on offense to try to be as equally dangerous, but watching those guys is going to be fun.”
