HOUSTON (AP) — Jadeveon Clowney never imagined he’d play for the Texans again when he was traded to Seattle amid a contract dispute before the 2019 season.
But after seven years and six teams the defensive end is back where his career began after re-signing Sunday with the team that picked him first overall in 2014.
Clowney has changed a lot since he arrived in Houston as a 21-year-old.
“I’m grown,” he said after his first workout with the Texans Tuesday.
“I was a big kid at first when I first got here. I grew up different than a lot of these guys. When I was born, my dad was in jail. I grew up in a single-parent home. I grew up a lot different. ... but coming back now, I’m a veteran in the locker room, a lot older, a lot smarter than I was before.”
He joins a defense that ranked among the best in the league in almost every category last season. Houston has stars Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter as its starting defensive ends but could use Clowney as a situational pass rusher after he had 8½ sacks for the Cowboys last season.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was asked about adding Clowney to a team that already has so much talent at defensive end.
“The rich get richer,” he said. “He’s a great player. Excited to work with him.”
Clowney signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with incentives that could push his salary to $8 million. The 33-year-old said he could have made more money if he’d signed elsewhere but at this point in his career winning is all that matters to him.
“My whole thing was to chase the Super Bowl this year,” he said. “There’s no better place for me to do it.”
Clowney did not have any lingering bitterness towards the Texans because of how his first stint with the team ended. He said his problems back then were specific to one person.
“I didn’t have any hard feelings,” he said. “It was just (former Texans coach Bill) O’Brien at the time. Him and I bumped heads. I couldn’t really understand because I was an easygoing guy.”
Current Houston coach DeMeco Ryans isn’t worried about his past with the team.
“He’s been a successful player, had a successful career,” Ryans said. “He brings a physical aspect to the football game, to our defense. A guy who can get after the passer as well.”
Clowney is happy to have signed with the Texans early in camp after he didn’t get picked up by the Cowboys last season until Sept. 14.
“It’s going to be a lot different this year because I’m going to learn a playbook before the season starts,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot smoother season for me.”
Along with one season each in Seattle and Dallas, he also was with Tennessee, Cleveland, Baltimore and Carolina since leaving Houston. Clowney had 9½ sacks with the Ravens in 2023, which tied his career-high that came with the Texans in 2017.
Clowney loves the culture Ryans has built in Houston and he’s looking forward to playing for his fearsome defense in what will be his 13th season.
“He puts a lot of great guys around him in coaches and you can feel the energy and all the other guys can feel it,” he said. “I know great things are going to happen here for me and the team. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity.”
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