HoH Round Table: Bob McNair on Jadeveon Clowney
After weeks of keeping his lips sealed about the Texans, Bob McNair went full blown Floyd Mayweather on the city of Houston. During the press conference where he announced that Gary Kubiak was fired, he started taking jabs at Kubie Kitty (Kubiak). Instead of me regurgitating the his entire rant, I’ll summarize in my own words, “Gary was a joke. A players coach. No accountability. No enthusiasm. No adjustments were made. He played Schaub over Case. The end.”
When McNair introduced Bill O’Brien, he started off by saying, “I’m ready to kick 2013 the hell out of the door…” I’m not going to lie, as I sat watching in my cubicle, I was looking for something to break on the ground. I was fired up (I’m emotional like that). When the questions started flowing into McNair, the jabs at Kubiak didn’t stop.
In the past two weeks McNair has talked more to the media than he has in the past two years.
Yesterday McNair hit the media with this gem about Jadeveon Clowney:
"He’s one of these players who’s a once-in-every-10 years kind of physical specimen that comes along. Mario Williams was that way. I think Clowney is actually a better athlete than Mario.Like many of these players that have great physical attributes, they didn’t have to work as hard in junior high school and high school and in college to be a superlative athlete because they have this natural ability. He’s not a J.J. Watt. J.J. didn’t have that natural ability. He worked. He developed his. I said, ‘J.J., I don’t know what will happen, but if we get Clowney, we want you to instill in him the same kind of work habits that you have.’ He said, ‘If he’s in the same room with me, then he’ll have them.”"
Ruh Roh! What could this mean? Are we drafting this guy now? Is this a smoke screen? Does McNair just like talking about South Carolina?
Our House of Houston Round table examined his quote. Here’s our thoughts:
Mac Wolff:
So Jadeveon is legitimately in the mix huh? Bobby gave us a little bit more than your general “owner speak” this time with the bit about talking to J.J. Watt about what would happen if the Texans drafted him. I don’t think Jadeveon Clowney is a better athlete than Mario Williams, as McNair suggested, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a better player. I still think that the point made here at House of Houston stays true; they aren’t drafting Clowney unless they have a plan to get a quarterback that they love later in the draft. The McNairs might be remembering how smart they looked after it seemed both Vince Young and Reggie Bush burnt out, while Mario Williams was thriving, but hopefully everyone recognizes that this is a completely different situation. #Manziel2014
In my opinion, McNair’s comments on Jadeveon Clowney were Bob just pondering a what if scenario. He was merely contemplating what could happen if the Texans drafted Clowney and paired him with J.J. Watt. By no means do I believe that they mean Clowney is the player he prefers for the Texans to select at number one. Of course, the fact that McNair is a South Carolina alum doesn’t hurt his outlook on Clowney one bit. He should have nothing but great things to say about possibly the best defensive player to ever come out of his university. That’s basically how I took it.
Blair Parker:
McNair is good at blowing smoke. He likes Clowney’s physical attributes. Who doesn’t? Kid was blessed with good genes. It doesn’t change the fact that there’s a glaring hole at QB and that hole needs to be filled. Long before we add a DE. Plus there’s some question as to Clowney’s work ethic and he had a down year last year. Also, there’s big ?s surrounding whether – assuming we hire Crennel – he’ll be as valuable to a 3-4 system.
I think it’s just talk. Do you honestly expect McNair (or anyone in any organization) to all out bash a player or let on that they may not want a star player? Hell no. It would hurt draft negotiations.
Yoni Pollak:
Honestly, I’d be ok with it. The thought of Clowney and Watt on the same defensive line would be insane. Obviously you will run into contract issues in the future, but that’s a good problem to have. The only way I’d be okay with taking Clowney is if they trade up for a QB or have another plan to get a QB. At 2.1 the Texans can likely still get one of the other quarterbacks. Maybe Bortles falls, maybe a guy like Mettenberger. Who knows. Whatever the case maybe, I trust Rick Smith (not sure why) and Bill O’Brien to make the right choice at quarterback. But if you ask me which QB I want in January of 2014, put me down for Manziel.
My thoughts (Marcus Chavez):
Smoke screen. Bob McNair is trying to mind (expletive) everyone. He knows that this team needs a quarterback more than anything. You can’t win in this league without a legit quarterback. I don’t think O’Brien wants Keenum or Schaub at the position. If anything, O’Brien wants to throw Schaub’s noodle-like arms in a pot of boiling water and eat them for dinner. McNair is trying to see what he can get for that number one pick.
That’s our take folks. What’s yours?