Jadeveon Clowney, My Phantastic Player of The Year

Every day I sit and watch some defensive line tape, and fall in love with a different guy. After Saturday's romping of the Oakland Raiders though, I noticed one guy jump out on tape the most. He was wearing #90 and playing the edge for the Houston Texans, but I could've sworn it was #99 at times. Jadeveon Clowney is my "Man Crush Every Day" and he's earned it. Watching his film this year has given me a hard on, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Jadeveon Clowney had been labeled as a bust by everyone including myself and probably Ryan Leaf after an underwhelming first two seasons in the NFL. It was mostly due to injury, but he still wasn't living up to the hype. This year has been a lot different for Clowney though as he's been playing at a pro bowl level. The raw numbers may not jump out at you as Clowney only has 6 sacks on the season, but he's been a monster against the run totaling 12 tackles for loss on the year:

Even though it's not translating to sacks, Clowney is still blowing past guys and decapitating people in the backfield.

On offense if you're playing either tackle spot, you don't want to line up across from this beast of a man.

Jadeveon Clowney has honestly looked like JJ Watt at times this season. Let me put a huge asterisk by "at times". Clowney isn't the same caliber off player that Watt is yet, but he's shown flashes of potential to be that kind of player this season. Hell, he even wears an elbow brace too. The difference between Watt and Clowney though, is that Watt is a bit more thick than Clowney which allows him to play as a true 3-4 end. Clowney fits in more as a standup 3-4 outside linebacker or 4-3 end, but his athleticism allows him to play anywhere he's asked to:

With JJ Watt going down in week 3 of the season, the Texans had no one to lean on to vacate the pass rush role of Watt except Clowney. Clowney ended up playing with his hand in the dirt more often this year, and he still had an incredibly productive season as he was able to make plays like this. I'm not sure why the Colts decided to let Dwayne Allen block Clowney 1 on1, but it didn't work out to well. Clowney is a quick twitch athlete, ( he blazed a 4.53 40 yard dash at the combine) and anyone who's asked to block him just can't keep up. Granted most of the plays Clowney makes have been reliant on his supreme athletic talent but generally pass rushers take a while to develop, just look at Dee Ford.

When JJ Watt went down, a lot of NFL pundits said that the Texans just wouldn't be able to get by without the disruptiveness he brought. Thats a fair assessment, but they just didn't account for the fact that Clowney would be fully healthy this year, and seemingly put everything together. The Texans pass rush didn't even miss Watt, because Clowney was able to make those insane Watt type plays himself:

It's safe to say all those knocks on him for lack of effort at South Carolina have been debunked. This is a pure football IQ/effort play. Clowney immediately recognized the misdirection screen play, and makes a second effort to tip it to himself to turn it into a pick. This is the type of stuff that JJ Watt gave the Texans, and when Watt takes the field again it makes me salivate imaging how hard life is going to be for opposing quarterbacks with the Watt/Clowney duo.

Clowney has really stepped up his game in his 3rd season, and if he develops some more pass rush moves and consistency he will be a staple on defense for the Texans for years to come. He's a stellar athlete and can really set the edge well, whether it be stuffing the run, or flying like a heat seeking missile to opposing passers. The pure disruptiveness he can bring is has potential to be out of this world:

Clowney doesn't need to show up on the stat sheet to make an impact on a game. Just look at what he did to Blake Bortles here- he came in quick enough to alter Bortles' throw. Just knocking down opposing quarterbacks is good enough as he can force them to make quick ill advised throws that could translate into turn overs for the Texans.

Jadeveon Clowney has finally looked like the guy out of South Carolina the Texans spent the first overall pick on. It's been a tough road for him, but he's looking like he'll become a Pro Bowl/All Pro caliber edge player for the Texans. If he can continue to build on the season he had this year, he might as well change his number to 99 and his last name to Watt because his ceiling is just that damn high. I can't wait to see the impact he and Watt are going to have against offenses next year when they take the field together. Jadeveon Clowney folks, number 90 for the Houston Texans and number 1 in my heart.