Houston Texans Rumors: Why Jadeveon Clowney should be tagged then traded
By T.A. Mock
Houston Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is set to hit free agency this offseason. Here’s why the team should franchise tag him then trade him.
Jadeveon Clowney is an enigma. You either see the Houston Texans defensive end as a disruptive play-maker or you see him as a disappointing number one overall pick. In all honesty, he’s probably somewhere in between the two. He isn’t one of the best defenders in the league but he is a really, really good one.
It’s true, Clowney’s career got off to an extremely rough start. He suffered a concussion in preseason forcing him to miss early time. He, then, tore his meniscus and required surgery but was later able to come back. However, he suffered a setback with that injury and ended up having microfracture surgery. He only played in four games, starting two that season recording only seven tackles on the year.
People were already slapping the bust label on him after that one season but after it being so injury-riddled, that was a little unfair. Casting a bust label on someone after one season, injury-riddled or not is too quick of an action and Clowney proved that.
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Clowney still has a laundry list of injuries that will likely plague him for the rest of his career but besides that first year, he’s played far more games than he’s missed. 2015, as a whole, was leaps and bounds from his rookie year but there was still a lot of obvious growth that needed to happen as he was only able to collect 4.5 sacks in 13 games.
Past that, Clowney has progressed every season he’s played in a Houston Texans uniform. His sack numbers have improved every year and could continue to do so when this season is all wrapped up. His total number of pressures have also improved every season as he’s been able to get more consistent in his pass rush.
That being said, Clowney’s calling card so far in the league hasn’t been his pass rushing, it’s been his elite run defense. He has been absolutely phenomenal in stopping the run and leading an elite run defense so far through his career. His athleticism plays extremely well in this aspect of the game as he can crash the line hard and completely erase a running back.
With all that being said, it’s clear that Clowney is an extremely talented and gifted football player and has been very, very good in his first five years in the NFL. But, let’s take a look at why he deserves to be slapped with the franchise tag this offseason.