According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the Houston Texans are reportedly open to trading pass-rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

The Texans have franchise-tagged Clowney earlier this offseason. However, he has yet to sign his tender.

Houston appears to hope that the two sides can still come to an agreement on a long-term deal. That would definitely be ideal for them as Clowney has show a lot of promise and is already producing at a high level.

Despite that though, they seem to realize the reality of the situation. There's a pretty strong chance they can't come to an agreement on a long-term deal. If that happens and Clowney ends up signing with another team, they'll lose him without getting anything except a compensatory pick in return.

If the Texans do shop Clowney, the market would probably be pretty big. He's racked up at least nine sacks and scored one touchdown in each of the last two seasons. The 26-year-old is clearly still improving as well. The prospect of him getting even better would be very tantalizing for a lot of teams.

However, the Texans would be wise to try and make things work out with Clowney before pushing the panic button and trading him. If they can continue pairing him with J.J. Watt, only good things will happen for the team.

If the Texans manage to trade Jadeveon Clowney before the NFL Draft starts tonight, it will be interesting to see what they get in return. He's still young and improving – but has shown flashes of absolute dominance.

That could yield them a pretty decent return for the pass-rusher.