Texans Edge Rusher Jadeveon Clowney Drawing Trade Interest Ahead of the Deadline, Schefter Reports
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday that teams have shown interest in Houston's veteran pass rusher - a former No. 1 overall pick of the Texans who rejoined the club this year and has played a rotational role on a 2-5 team.
HOUSTON - Jadeveon Clowney's second stay in Houston could be a short one. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Sunday that the Texans' veteran edge rusher has generated trade interest around the league ahead of the NFL trade deadline, adding Clowney to Houston's list of names to watch in the final days of the market.
The interest, as reported by Sports Illustrated's Texans coverage, is in a player working in a smaller role than his name suggests. Clowney, a late free-agent addition heading into the 2026 season, has played five games for Houston with nine total tackles, 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss, on 37 percent of the Texans' defensive snaps - down from the 44 percent he played for Dallas in 2025. He is on a one-year contract valued at $5.5 million, the kind of deal contenders can absorb for a rotational pass rusher.
Clowney's history in Houston is the long way around: the Texans drafted him first overall out of South Carolina, he built his career across several stops, and he rejoined the club this past offseason as a finishing piece for a defensive line that has not matched last year's standard on a 2-5 team. Houston has already been active in the market - the club sent a 2027 second-round pick and a future seventh-round pick to Arizona in the deal for Marvin Harrison Jr. - and its deadline decisions will say how it reads the rest of this season.
No suitor was named in the reports read this cycle, and interest is not a trade: Houston can keep Clowney as a rotational piece for its return from the bye, next week on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers, or move him for a pick. What Sunday's reporting establishes is only that his name is in the market - the desk will file again if a deal, or a firm decision to keep him, is reported.
