When it was announced that Texans linebacker and first overall pick of the 2014 draft Jadeveon Clowney would be having sports hernia surgery, coach Bill O’Brien said that the surgery was the result of a groin injury that happened recently.
Clowney also said that he started feeling pain after being drafted by the Texans, although there were reports that Clowney was suffering from a groin pull at his pro day earlier this year. It seems Clowney has changed his tune, however.
John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports that Clowney spoke to Gil Brandt of NFL.com at the Rookie Symposium on Thursday and told Brandt that he played through a sports hernia at South Carolina last season. McClain also reports that Clowney’s agent Bus Cook called it a groin injury that caused Clowney to think about sitting out the pro day workout.
That injury would explain some of Clowney’s disappointing 2013 performance with South Carolina, although it is strange that there were no red flags raised at the combine or elsewhere in the pre-draft process if the injury required surgery. It’s possible, of course, that things got worse as Clowney worked this spring. Clowney isn’t sure if he’ll be ready for camp, something that probably wouldn’t be the case if he’d known about and/or had surgery earlier.
Which brings us to the biggest issue for the Texans. The date that Clowney was injured isn’t nearly as important for them right now as the date that he’ll be fully healthy and ready to resume the transition to outside linebacker that he’ll be making in Houston.