NFC personnel exec on Jadeveon Clowney: 'Boom or bust'
NFL Network's Albert Breer spoke to a pair of NFC personnel executives and heard two different (yet strangely similar) takes on Jadeveon Clowney, which makes sense because Clowney is one of the most polarizing NFL draft prospects in recent memory.
"Right now, today, he's a damn-good NFL player, no matter what," one exec told Breer. "The kid could've started in the NFL his freshman year, the way he played. It's not that he doesn't have good tape. And if you hit on him, he's Reggie White. His God-given talent is better than 99 percent of the NFL. ... He's gonna be 275 to 285 pounds, and he moves like he's 250. If you hit on him, he changes the game."
The other executive worries that Clowney will never reach his potential because he lacks the right mindset for the pros.
"What are you buying? I'm not sure. He can be a big-time player, but is he gonna be? The wiring, the motor, the questions about shutting it down -- it's really scary. It's boom or bust. I don't know how important football is to him."
That's the story on Clowney in a nutshell. On tape, he looks like he could be the best defensive player in the league. But far too often, he doesn't show up. Whether that excites you or frightens you could come down to whether you're a glass-half-full kind of person.
Can the Houston Texans stomach taking a big risk with the No. 1 overall pick? We'll find out in a few weeks.