2 players the Houston Texans gave up on too soon

Jadeveon Clowney

Clowney was a former first-overall draft pick by Houston in 2014. He spent his first five seasons in Houston, where he totaled 205 tackles, 25 sacks, and five forced fumbles. Houston never got the best out of Clowney, or at least what was expected out of a top draft pick. And he never showed what he could do until he got to the Cleveland Browns in 2021. You can blame that on a lot of factors, he really only relied on his size to win battles early in his career, and had to deal with injuries in his rookie season. If Houston had a winning regime in place, we may have seen South Carolina Clowney come to life with the Texans.

Clowney had a difficult time latching on with a team at first. But he seemed to have a few good seasons with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens from 2021-2023 where he totaled 20.5 sacks and 108 tackles. It may have happened later than he had hoped, as he's 31 years old and going into his 11th season in the league. But in his defense, he's made a very good career for himself considering how it first started, and I feel like it could have been even better had he remained in Houston this whole time.