Houston Texans pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will make a cool $12.3 million in 2018.
Though, Clowney is soon going to become a very rich man. The Texans have made it known that signing the former No. 1 overall pick to an extension is one of their top off-season priorities. It now looks like that could be imminent.
“Word is the Texans and Jadeveon Clowney are making a lot of progress on a mega-extension,” MMQB’s Albert Breer reported Thursday. It’s not yet known what said extension might look like. But as Breer notes, it would set the floor for two players in Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald who are also looking for extensions themselves.
Something north of the five-year, $85 million deal the New York Giants signed Olivier Vernon to last offseason should be the baseline here. In reality, it would not be an absolute shock if Clowney become the fifth $100 million defender in the NFL and potentially the highest-paid player on that side of the ball.
After a slow and injury-plagued start to his career, Clowney has picked it up a ton recently. The 25-year-old defender has recorded 15.5 sacks over the past two seasons, earning two Pro Bowl appearances in the process. As much as J.J. Watt is seen as the face of the Texans’ defense, Clowney represents its future.