Are Houston Sports Reaching DEFCON 1?

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Oct 20, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Houston Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Issue: Jadeveon Clowney

DEFCON Level: 1

Reasoning: Coming back from micro-fracture surgery can’t be easy. Rehab for that type of procedure is mentally and physically challenging and there just hasn’t been a lot of success stories to make it any easier. Luckily, Clowney is no rookie when it comes to rehab as he has already had a sports hernia, a concussion, a torn meniscus and articular cartilage damage all in his first season.

But coming back from micro-fracture surgery while having your father locked-up for assault with a deadly weapon after being shot behind a strip-club on the first night of training camp has to be a lot to handle.

Take a second and go back and re-read that last sentence…

Wow, what a crazy story. If Adam Schefter were to tweet out that Clowney’s father had been drinking Hyper Vipers before the shoot-out, you’d probably be like, “yeah, this makes total sense now” and probably not even blink an eye.

Then yesterday, news broke that his father’s bail has been denied and he won’t be getting out of jail.

You don’t think our 2014 number one overall draft pick is thinking about rehab right now while his father is locked in a cage after being injured in a gun fight, do you?

Earlier this week, a buddy of mine was comparing Arian Foster to oft-injured, but highly talented NBA-star Derrick Rose. And while I can see some correlation, it doesn’t totally work for me. One was the #1 pick, the other went undrafted. Foster has been voted All-Pro, but he’s never sniffed an MVP vote. But I liked the idea so I wanted to take it a step further.

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Up to this point, Jadeveon Clowney has had a professional career that looks almost identical to that of Greg Oden and it really isn’t up for debate. Both having been a once-in-a-generation talent, to both being the number one overall draft picks (despite injury red-flags in college), to both having disappointing rookie seasons that ended with micro-fracture surgery.

(Although I will say, hopefully Clowney doesn’t like sexting as much Oden did.)

If Clowney plays in a preseason game this year (highly unlikely at this point), it will be the first of his career.

All of this isn’t to denounce Clowney’s story and career. I’ll be rooting for him to average more than two tackles per game. But this business with his Dad is taking a sensitive situation and making it that much more complicated.

I just think we all need to stop worrying about the wrong things (Lawson, Foster’s injury) and start being more concerned over the real issues facing our team, DEFCON levels and all.

Next: Has Jamaal Charles Lost a Step?