So why didn’t the Texans trade down from No. 1? They asked for too much out of the gates to permit a deal to ever be worked out.
As one league source explained it to PFT, once the Texans made their asking price known, interested teams opted to move on and to prepare for other options and opportunities.
Some thought that, ultimately, the Texans would take the best offer they could finagle and trade down. By making a moonshot to open the bidding, the Texans made it impossible to save face by cutting their asking price dramatically.
So they had to dig in and use the pick that they earned with a 2-14 record in 2013. And they picked Clowney.
Now the question becomes whether they’ll keep him or trade him, like Eli Manning and Philip Rivers in 2004. The fact that the Texans took the full 10 minutes while waiting for the phone to ring makes it impossible to rule out the phone ringing after Clowney has held up a jersey that he, in theory, may never wear.