HOUSTON – Jadeveon Clowney was one of the few key Houston Texans that managed to play a complete 16-game season. He was a dominant player in his fourth season and was selected for his second Pro Bowl.
Now Clowney is aiming for more by simply keeping the same goals he's had for himself each season.
“My goal is to make more plays than I did last year. Every year, I would say the same thing, say improve on my game and getting better," Clowney said.
"Each year, I’ve come in and done that, improving my sacks and tackles for loss and everything. I just want to do that again with everybody back this year."
Clowney finished last season with 21 tackles for loss, becoming just the second Texans player to accomplish that feat. (J.J. Watt did it in four consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015.)
The former number one overall pick was also the only player in the AFC to have 20 or more tackles for loss and 20-or-more quarterback hits in 2017.
Clowney's hopeful that their defense can find their way back to the results they had two seasons ago when they were among the league's best.
"We know each other. I feed off those guys real good and I’ve been playing with them for a while, so I kind of understand what they’re thinking and how they’re thinking," Clowney said.
"I think we can be real strong together. The group we got together in real, real good and hopefully we can keep together, stay healthy and play for each other.”