NFL Draft rumors: Executive says Jadeveon Clowney could have started in league out of high school

While he does have his detractors, the vast majority of NFL Draft analysts will be quick to point out that South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is a freak, plain and simple. Some view him as a once-in-a-lifetime player that should be the definitive number one overall pick next month of the Houston Texans, which he very well may be.

But there are some that really like Clowney, and one of those people is a veteran NFC executive who recently went so far as to say that not only will Clowney make an immediate impact in the league, he probably could have done so right out of high school.

"“Right now, today, he’s a damn good NFL player, no matter what,” a veteran NFC personnel executive said. “The kid could’ve started in the NFL his freshman year, the way he played. It’s not that he doesn’t have good tape. And if you hit on him, he’s Reggie White. His God-given talent is better than 99 percent of the NFL. … He’s gonna be 275 to 285 pounds, and he moves like he’s 250. If you hit on him, he changes the game.”"

This actually isn’t the first time that we’ve heard someone say that, if the old NBA-type rules were in place, Clowney could have jumped right from high school to the NFL.