Report: Jadeveon Clowney Will Return To Texans After Third Preseason Game

As Texans fans know all too well, Jadeveon Clowney has been absent from all offseason activities, including training camp, this year. He’s not under contract, of course, as he has not signed the franchise tender the team placed on him back in March, so he’s not getting fined for missing the time. The thinking has been that the first overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft will show up shortly before the Texans open their 2019 regular season against the Saints on Monday Night Football—in time to get that first monstrous regular season game check, but not before then so as to not risk injury and to demonstrate his disappointment with not getting the long-term contract he desired.

Today, Ian Rapoport declared that the Texans actually expect Clowney to report to the team about two weeks before Week One of the regular season; specifically, that the Texans believe Clowney will rejoin the organization after the Texans play their “dress rehearsal” preseason game against the Cowboys in Arlington on August 24th.

That qualifies as positive news. As Weston noted in this post, there was some belief that Clowney’s slow start in 2018 was due, at least in part, to his lack of reps and conditioning during the 2018 preseason as he recovered from a surgical procedure that took place in January of 2018. Contract issues aside, having an extra week or so to practice with his teammates and prepare for the 2019 regular season seems like it would benefit both the player and the team, as it’s in everyone’s best interest for Clowney to destroy opposing offenses from September to December January February.

Are you heartened by this news, Texans fans?