The Houston Texans are hopeful that Jadeveon Clowney can play in Week 1 and stay healthy after missing most of his rookie season after having knee surgery and the defensive end said that he "trusts" his knee and should be ready to start the season.
According to Pro Football Talk, Clowney will not play against the Saints in the next preseason game for the Texans, but he is "on track" to start the season healthy. Clowney returned to practice recently and head coach Bill O'Brien said after workouts on Wednesday that Clowney should be able to play and that the Texans are "inching him forward" in camp workouts to get him ready for that first game.
Clowney said to the Houston Chronicle that he has been "trusting his knee" for a while and that he is ready to "play football" after coming back from microfracture surgery. Clowney was taken with the first overall pick in the draft last year and he only played in four games for the Texans while making seven total tackles and recording zero sacks.
The Texans already have JJ Watt and adding a healthy or even semi-healthy Clowney could make the defense even stronger for O'Brien. Romeo Crennel has said that he thinks Clowney has the potential to be a star player and now he has to see if he can stay healthy into the season. Clowney came off of the PUP list last week and the team will take it easy with him until he can handle a full workload again.
Clowney will be out for the thirds preseason game and there is a chance he could be out for the last game of the preseason if the team wants to be cautious. Either way, O'Brien and the defense are likely to have Clowney on a snap count for the early part of the season after the surgery last year. Clowney has the chance to bounce back after not making much of an impact last season and if he is healthy, the Texans defense could have one of the best fronts in the league.
The Texans finally solved their QB situation with Brian Hoyer taking over as the starter and that leaves Ryan Mallett as the backup. Hoyer showed more consistency in the preseason and O'Brien said that the team would be willing to make a change if things are not going well. Mallett will be the main backup for Hoyer with Tom Savage as the third string option. Both players were signed as free agents in the offseason, although Mallett had been traded to the Texans last year and was in the final year of his contract.