It’s been about a week since the Houston Texans reunited with defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, signing the 33-year-old former number one overall draft pick to a one year $5.5 million contract to return to the team that drafted him back in 2014. I don’t know that anybody could have predicted this happening when Clowney was unceremoniously traded away in 2019, but here we are.
In many ways, GOOD ways, Clowney’s been the same guy he was when he was here the first time, back in his mid-20s. At practice, he’s been a disruptive force, and at the podium, he’s been a playful joy. However, in one key way, this is a different Clowney, a more mature Clowney. He was very clear in his media availability last week that he took Bill O’Brien’s trading him away as an opportunity to look in the mirror.
Now, “2026 Jadeveon Clowney” is a family man, with a wife and kids, and he’s trying to be an example for the Texans’ young players. If indeed Clowney wants to deploy a “do as I say, not as I do” approach there are instances from Clowney’s first stint as a Texan that he can point to for the younger players. In fact, I’ve got five headlines from Clowney Era 1.0 that we can examine. Let’s look at these through this lens — do we think this would happen to the new and improved Clowney?
Here we go, in chronological order:
November 3, 2014 — “Jadeveon Clowney likes a picture on Instagram, faces wrath”
If you recall, Clowney had some injury issues early on in his career, so he missed a lot of time during his rookie year. When players are inactive on game day, they often sit in a suite at the stadium, as opposed to hanging around on the sidelines, where looking the wrong way can get you further injured. When a player is in a suite, it means they have their cell phones handy, which means they can like pictures of pretty women on Instagram. There’s no crime in liking a picture on “the gram,” but probably not a good idea to do it during a game your team is playing. Clowney did this in 2014, not the smartest thing in the world. Twelve years later, with a wife and kids and more common sense, I doubt Clowney 2.0 would do this.
November 27, 2014 — “O’Brien to check in with Dr. Jadeveon Clowney”
A few weeks later, Clowney was close to returning from injury, but heading into a home game against Tennessee, he was still struggling to get fully healthy. In the locker room, during the media availability portion of a particular day, Clowney updated the media on his condition and status for the game that coming Sunday. Head coach Bill O’Brien, later that day, got wind that Clowney was disclosing his medicals to the media and, in classic frustrated O’Brien mode, and said that he would need to have a discussion with “Dr. Clowney.” I actually don’t think Clowney would do this again, because the team wouldn’t put him in position to get asked about an injury.
March 10, 2015 — “Jadeveon Clowney bitten by teammate’s pit bull”
It was the offseason after Clowney’s star crossed rookie season, and he was hanging out with his college and Texans teammate, safety D.J. Swearinger. I’m sure the two of them were enjoying each other’s company, but evidently, Swearinger’s pit bull was not. He bit Clowney on the arm, and Clowney required minor medical attention. Perhaps thje most staggering thing about this story was the fact that Swearinger’s dog’s shots were up to date. (Swearinger didn’t seem like a real “attention to detail” guy.) Could this happen again? Sure. I can’t blame Clowney for being friendly to animals, and the animals not reciprocating.
January 9, 2016 — “Jadeveon Clowney leaves stadium before playoff game vs Chiefs”
This was the most interesting Clowney escapade on the list. The Texans were playing the Chiefs in a wild card round playoff game at home after the 2015 season, a season in which Clowney dealt with even more injury issues. Clowney was declared inactive for the playoff game, and then shortly thereafter was seen leaving the stadium in a huff. ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters reported that Clowney left over frustration that he was declared inactive for the game. In fact, he was leaving to get tickets to the game to some family members. I can’t fault Clowney for diligently hooking up family members with tickets. I could see this happening again. Hopefully, he won’t make the mistake of looking agitated around Lisa Salters when he leaves.
December 2017, 2017 — “Jadeveon Clowney on Jags QB Blake Bortles: ‘He’s trash’”
The issue here isn’t Clowney calling Bortles “trash,” because, as a quarterback, Bortles was trash and always will be trash. The issue for Clowney is he made this assessment after one of Bortles’ few good games, a 45-7 thrashing of the Texans. Timing is everything, and Clowney would probably be a little more self aware the next time around.
