2014 NFL Draft grades: Houston Texans select Jadeveon Clowney
By Jack Crosby
After months of waiting and pondering, the Houston Texans have decided to use their first overall selection in the 2014 NFL Draft, and when all was said and done, they did so on South Carolina stud defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Given everything that happened the past few weeks, this shouldn’t be a surprise to many. The Texans did field potential trade calls leading up to Thursday night, but in the end they couldn’t resist the man whom many are calling a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
Now, Houston has one of the deadliest defensive end tandems in the league with Clowney playing opposite the player who is already considered the best at the position, J.J. Watt.
Although, there has been some word that he could see some time at outside linebacker coming off the edge.
Ed Werder reports Texans believe Jadeveon Clowney can play some standup rush LB
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) May 9, 2014
Whatever the case may be and however the team ultimately wants to end up using him, they are now in possession of one of the more destructive forces to ever come out of college.
In his three-year career with the Gamecocks, Clowney compiled 130 total tackles with 47 of those for loss and 24 sacks. He lived up to the hype that he had coming out of high school as the no. 1 overall prospect, and now it’s time for him to take that challenge on again as a professional football player with the Houston Texans.
Grade: A