Is Jadeveon Clowney a bust?

[nybluemeadow]

Things have looked really bad for Jadeveon. He has been facing single coverage for the last two years with Watt getting triple team and Clowney has been a zero factor on one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Jadeveon's speed and burst on the NFL level just looks pathetic so far.

[Yoshun]

Things have looked really bad for Jadeveon. He has been facing single coverage for the last two years with Watt getting triple team and Clowney has been a zero factor on one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Jadeveon's speed and burst on the NFL level just looks pathetic so far.

It's kind of hard to say this, he's only played in 9 games in his career so far and had to come back from a pretty serious injury. The 5 games he's played in this season have been the only ones he's really be 100% healthy. I actually think he looks pretty good, especially against the run. He's smart, he tackles well and he does an excellent job of keeping runners and QBs contained by maintaining position. He isn't a good pass rusher yet though, that part is true. He doesn't really have a go to move yet and struggles going inside, definitely needs work in that area.

[orlandomanic]

Before the draft, so many scouts were calling him a once in a decade (or generational) prospect.

to me that seem really weird, because he had only 2 sacks his final year in college, even though his peers were getting 12-14 sacks with a double team.

i watched the falcons and colts game and Clowney just looks painfully slow and pathetic. he was getting single coverage and getting suffocated by the OT, and i counted 8 times the OT put his on his back.

some might think its too early, but i'll call it now, Clowney is a bust. alot of teams are lucky that they didn't trade up for him and that houston is now stuck with him.

i think it would be better if Clowney went up to 290lbs and moved to DT because he doesn't have natural speed, but he does have power.

[LAKESHOW]

The problem is defensive ends are not supposed to run 4.4 or 4.5 speeds. Theyre supposed to be around 4.9 or 5.0 type speeds. Once a defensive lineman hits those high speeds as clowney did, that means he is thin and made of brittle. But slower speeds means an individual with meat girth and size. Clowneys legs and knees need a lot of support and strengthening, before I put him back out there.

[orlandomanic]

Clowney to me, looks like a poor man's Justin Smith.

Early in his career, Justin Smith struggled because he was miss-used by the bengals defense. Smith just didn't have natural speed to play defense but the bengals put him at DE and OLB and that really (Please Use More Appropriate Word) his development. While with the bengals, Smith was just a mediocre to average football player.

It wasn't until he moved to the 49ers where they used him property and moved him to DT full time. And it was only when they did that, that Smith became an elite football player and was selected to six straight pro-bowls. if only the bengals used him property, we might be saying that Smith was the best defensive player to come out of the 2001 draft and not Richard Seymour.

I see the same thing happening to Clowney, he is being miss-used by houston because they are putting him at DE/OLB when he should be playing DT. and just like Smith, Clowney won't have any success until he switches team and his new teams uses his power and strength effectively.