Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney says he’ll try to be cleared by training camp

There was a bit of a red flag thrown up shortly after the NFL Draft as it was learned that the Houston Texans’ no. 1 overall pick, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, would need to undergo sports hernia surgery, leaving his status up in the air for the beginning of training camp. That status, according to Clowney, is still up in the air.

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“I’m going to try,” said Clowney, while promoting the Vita Coco sports drink. “That’s the goal, to try to get back. But I don’t know for sure right now. I’m going to let (the trainers) decide.”

Given the questions coming into the draft about Clowney, he’s taken more criticism, but this is something that he played through last year at South Carolina. It was better to get the issue fixed now, then to have it linger any longer into his professional career.

The one hindrance that he would face by missing time in training camp would be learning the transition to his new outside linebacker slot in the Romeo Crennel 3-4 defense that the Texans are implementing. While Clowney has the athleticism to make the physical transition, he doesn’t want to miss a lot of time learning the schemes on the field.

Since the surgery last month, Clowney has returned to Houston and will be with the Texans when they report for camp on Monday.