Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney’s likely fate this offseason

The Houston Texans are still working hard toward signing Jadeveon Clowney to a long-term deal despite refuting reports. What’s going on? Let’s look.

Houston Texans fans — it’s the offseason and it’s past the mid-point of April, meaning that there are going to be a lot of fireworks in terms of happenings going on, especially when the draft finally gets here next Thursday.

The Houston Texans will have their first-round pick this season and they will pick 23rd.  Which way will they go?  It’s likely that they will address the offensive line first this draft but a general manager won’t tell you that.

A GM is going to say that they’re going to draft the best player available because they want to stick to their message about making the team better and not what their misfortunes were from the season previous from building the roster.

The offensive line play wasn’t as a bad as the 2017 season but it still was horrendous as Deshaun Watson was sacked a league-high 62 times last season.  There’s no question that Brian Gaine will look at that position closely and strike when the time is right.

But, as I said, he won’t tell you that.

While the preparations for the draft are going on, the team seems to be hell-bent on trying to ink

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Jadeveon Clowney to a long-term deal.  Clowney was recently franchise-tagged for the upcoming season and if both sides don’t come to a pact by July 15th, he will earn $15.96 million for 2019.

This is despite the plethora of reporting from the Chron’s Aaron Wilson that both sides aren’t even remotely close to a deal.

Here’s what I think is going to happen — the Houston Texans and Clowney won’t be able to agree to a deal and Clowney will play out 2019 on the franchise tag.  He will sit out OTAs, training camp and will return at the start of the season.

I predict that Clowney will have a magnificent season, further warranting him to get the contract that he would deserve after proving his worth.

There’s no question that Clowney should be offered a long-term commitment but I do understand the Houston Texans‘ front office being coy in regard to ensuring that they spend their money wisely.  That’s just the way business works.

But Clowney has yet to eclipse the threshold of having a double-digit sack season and that’s another inhibitor to getting what he wants.  He’s a versatile player and Romeo Crennel asks him to do a lot but I still think the opportunities are there to get sacks on a regular basis.

Let’s keep our peepers out for the next few months just in case the Houston Texans decide to deal!

Clowney, the first pick of the NFL Draft in 2014, amassed 47 combined tackles — 38 solo — along with 16 tackles-for-loss, 9.0 sacks, 21 quarterback hits, three fumble recoveries, one pass defended, forced fumble and touchdown for 2018.