Houston Texans: Jadeveon Clowney looks healthy, explosive

The Houston Texans boast a trio of pass rushers that can beat you a number of ways, and former top pick Jadeveon Clowney looks at his best early on…

The Houston Texans and their fans are already spoiled by Defensive MVP J.J. Watt, emerging pass rusher Whitney Mercilus, and now former number one overall pick Jadeveon Clowney enters the ring.

If there’s an NFL offensive line out there that can contain these three on a given play, I’d love to see it. These guys can beat you with speed, power, smarts, they can put pressure on, they can bat down passes, and they can flat out take the ball away from you at will.

It’s an asset most NFL teams don’t have, but the key for the Texans is all playing at a high level consistently, and so far in the young career of former top pick Jadeveon Clowney, we haven’t seen that. At least, we haven’t seen him consistently healthy.

As we recap what we’ve seen in week one of the NFL season, one thing that stood out to me was what Clowney did in his season debut against the Chicago Bears. Take a look at this cut-up of his day vs. Chicago, and make your own assessments before I tell you what I liked…

This is an absolutely phenomenal effort by Clowney, who looked like the Clowney of old in this game. We didn’t see a play like Clowney’s hit on Fitzgerald Toussaint a few years back, but we do see the same explosiveness, quickness, and tenacity off the snap that everyone grew to love.

At just 23 years of age, the sky is still the limit for Clowney, who is one of the NFL’s most imposing physical marvels at 6-5, 270 pounds. Here’s a wicked hot take for you: Clowney could be the defensive equivalent to Rob Gronkowski, and could give the Texans the most freakishly gifted athletic duo on the same defensive front.

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This guy could wind up being impossible to gameplan against with Watt on the opposite side of the field, and this game against the Bears is a perfect example of that.

The Texans are able to line up Clowney all over the field, standing up or with his hand in the ground, and he’s able to have success getting after the quarterback whether he’s rushing inside or going on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle.

There’s a rare explosiveness or burst from Clowney that simply can’t be contained on a regular basis at his size and with his play strength. He’s too big, too fast, and too good. This is the guy we’ve all been waiting three years to see. With four tackles, one sack, and three QB hits, it’s clear that Clowney plans on taking up a permanent residence in offensive backfields.

As his game continues to evolve and expand, the options for the Texans will be endless. As we all know, J.J. Watt can do it all on his own if he has to, but with the emergence of Whitney Mercilus and Jadeveon Clowney, this group can be downright unstoppable.

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