The Texans are a playoff contender -- maybe the favorites in the AFC South if the worrying reports about Andrew Luck turn out to be worst-case scenarios. But they didn't get a deal done with Jadeveon Clowney before the deadline for signing franchise players, and now credible sources believe he'll be traded.
The Houston Chronicle's John McClain says he'd be surprised if Clowney ISN'T traded, which is pretty definitive. What people need to understand, though, is that Clowney is playing under the franchise tag for the 2019 season, period (unless the Texans just release him, which would make no sense). A team trading for him doesn't have the option of giving him a new deal until after the season. So if Houston trades him they'll be trying to get fair value from a team that is only assured of keeping Clowney around for one year. Tough to do.
Clowney has an injury history, which wiped out virtually all of his rookie season and made him, initially, look like a suspect pick atop the 2014 draft. But he's also missed a total of only six games in four seasons since, and just one game the last two years, so those worries look a little overblown. The last three seasons, he's been one of the most productive pass rushers in the league.
Since 2016, 62 players have racked up at least 15 sacks. Clowney's got 24.5 in that span, while also totaling 53 tackles for losses -- 3rd-most in the league behind Aaron Donald (57) and Chandler Jones (56). His combined total of sacks and tackles for losses is better than all but seven players.
| TOP PASS RUSHERS, 2016-2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Sk | TFL | Tot |
| Chandler Jones | 48 | 41.0 | 56 | 97.0 |
| Aaron Donald | 46 | 39.5 | 57 | 96.5 |
| Cameron Jordan | 48 | 32.5 | 52 | 84.5 |
| Von Miller | 48 | 38.0 | 44 | 82.0 |
| Ryan Kerrigan | 48 | 37.0 | 44 | 81.0 |
| Calais Campbell | 48 | 33.0 | 46 | 79.0 |
| Danielle Hunter | 48 | 34.0 | 44 | 78.0 |
| Jadeveon Clowney | 45 | 24.5 | 53 | 77.5 |
| Khalil Mack | 46 | 34.0 | 39 | 73.0 |
| Michael Bennett | 43 | 22.5 | 43 | 65.5 |
| Geno Atkins | 48 | 28.0 | 36 | 64.0 |
| Joey Bosa | 35 | 28.5 | 35 | 63.5 |
| Frank Clark | 47 | 32.0 | 31 | 63.0 |
| Jason Pierre-Paul | 44 | 28.0 | 34 | 62.0 |
| Mario Addison | 46 | 29.5 | 32 | 61.5 |
| Terrell Suggs | 47 | 26.0 | 35 | 61.0 |
| Akiem Hicks | 48 | 23.0 | 38 | 61.0 |
| Melvin Ingram | 48 | 25.5 | 35 | 60.5 |
| Yannick Ngakoue | 48 | 29.5 | 29 | 58.5 |
| Demarcus Lawrence | 41 | 26.0 | 32 | 58.0 |
| Brandon Graham | 47 | 19.0 | 38 | 57.0 |
| Dee Ford | 37 | 25.0 | 29 | 54.0 |
| Chris Jones | 48 | 24.0 | 29 | 53.0 |
| Cameron Heyward | 38 | 23.0 | 30 | 53.0 |
| Everson Griffen | 42 | 26.5 | 26 | 52.5 |
| Justin Houston | 32 | 22.5 | 30 | 52.5 |
| Vic Beasley | 46 | 25.5 | 26 | 51.5 |
| Bruce Irvin | 48 | 21.5 | 30 | 51.5 |
| Cameron Wake | 46 | 28.0 | 23 | 51.0 |
| Carlos Dunlap | 48 | 23.5 | 27 | 50.5 |
| Lorenzo Alexander | 48 | 22.0 | 28 | 50.0 |
| Olivier Vernon | 39 | 22.0 | 28 | 50.0 |
| DeForest Buckner | 47 | 21.0 | 29 | 50.0 |
| Matt Judon | 46 | 19.0 | 31 | 50.0 |
| Jerry Hughes | 48 | 17.0 | 33 | 50.0 |
| Jurrell Casey | 46 | 18.0 | 31 | 49.0 |
| Fletcher Cox | 46 | 22.5 | 26 | 48.5 |
| Kawann Short | 46 | 16.5 | 31 | 47.5 |
| Julius Peppers | 48 | 23.5 | 23 | 46.5 |
| Trey Flowers | 45 | 21.0 | 25 | 46.0 |
| Malik Jackson | 48 | 18.0 | 28 | 46.0 |
| Jabaal Sheard | 47 | 16.0 | 30 | 46.0 |
| Denico Autry | 44 | 16.5 | 28 | 44.5 |
| Gerald McCoy | 44 | 19.0 | 24 | 43.0 |
| Ezekiel Ansah | 34 | 18.0 | 25 | 43.0 |
| T.J. Watt | 31 | 20.0 | 22 | 42.0 |
| Bud Dupree | 38 | 16.0 | 26 | 42.0 |
| Myles Garrett | 27 | 20.5 | 21 | 41.5 |
| Clay Matthews | 42 | 16.0 | 24 | 40.0 |
| Nick Perry | 35 | 19.5 | 20 | 39.5 |
| J.J. Watt | 24 | 17.5 | 22 | 39.5 |
| Preston Smith | 48 | 16.5 | 23 | 39.5 |
| Brian Orakpo | 45 | 19.0 | 20 | 39.0 |
| Robert Quinn | 40 | 19.0 | 20 | 39.0 |
| Leonard Floyd | 38 | 15.5 | 23 | 38.5 |
| Markus Golden | 31 | 15.0 | 22 | 37.0 |
| Kyler Fackrell | 45 | 15.5 | 19 | 34.5 |
| Derrick Morgan | 42 | 17.0 | 17 | 34.0 |
| Dante Fowler | 47 | 16.0 | 18 | 34.0 |
| Adrian Clayborn | 43 | 16.5 | 17 | 33.5 |
| Erik Walden | 32 | 15.0 | 15 | 30.0 |
| Chris Long | 48 | 15.5 | 12 | 27.5 |
Houston has other pass rushers, including J.J. Watt. But Watt is four years older than Clowney and has a more extensive recent injury history. Considering Houston is apparently going to operate without a general manager this season, small wonder they couldn't work a deal out with Clowney. But trading him now is unlikely to get them full value for a player of his caliber. Kind of looks like they've totally bungled things here. If they do in fact trade him, they'll likely be worse off this year and won't get full value either.
--Andy Richardson