Jadeveon Clowney will play today
The Houston Texans won’t have star running back Arian Foster out there today, as he is expected to return next week after suffering a groin injury before the bye. However, they will get another key contributor back in rookie Jadeveon Clowney, who tore his meniscus in Week 1, returned to the field in Week 8, but hasn’t played since after seemingly being rushed back too soon. The knee has definitely been a nagging issue for the No. 1 overall pick, and a report surfaced a couple of weeks ago that stated that the Texans were upset with Clowney’s inability to return from the injury. However, head coach Bill O’Brien firmly denied that the team is disappointed in him but rather in the injury itself.
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ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that Clowney will play in today’s game against the Cleveland Browns, so you can add his return to the starting lineup as yet another storyline (Ryan Mallett starting is obviously the big one). It will be interesting to see how the rookie does off of the edge upon his return, and hopefully he looks fully healthy.
Clowney hasn’t been able to do much in his two appearances this season due to the injury, but you always get the feeling that he’s capable of doing something special whenever he steps onto the field. The high-upside rookie will need to develop consistency, but we already saw in the offseason that he is capable of blowing up plays at a quick rate and can perform extraordinary feats due to his elite physical tools.
He has always been expected to make a return to the team following the bye, and it sounds like the safe bet is to expect the Texans to ease their investment into things by only letting him play in passing situations (that’s been widely speculated for some time).