2014 NFL Re-Draft Gives Houston Texans a Future-Hall of Famer to Pair with JJ Watt

Houston's defense would have been an outright nightmare if they had gone in a different direction at the top of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Oct 1, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Former Houston Texans JJ Watt speaks to the fans during his Ring Of Honor Ceremony at halftime during the game between the Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

The Houston Texans did what they were expected to do in the 2014 NFL Draft. They took the physical freak of nature that is Jadeveon Clowney. While Clowney was a solid player, he wasn’t exactly one of the best pass rushers in NFL history.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Texans could have completely reshaped their fortunes by not only taking the best player in that draft class with the No. 1 overall pick, but arguably the greatest defensive player in modern NFL history, Aaron Donald.

Pro Football Focus compiled the grades of the 2014 NFL Draft class and redistributed the first-round selections based on their career grades. Naturally, the Texans were gifted with Donald, who posted a career PFF grade of 97.1 across his 10-year career in Los Angeles.

Of course, circumstance plays a huge factor in every player’s NFL career. There’s no telling if Donald would have achieved the same heights outside of Los Angeles, though it’s certainly likely that he would have been successful no matter what. Pairing him with JJ Watt on that defensive line would have been terrifying for the rest of the NFL, and likely allowed both legends to be even more dominant.

Clowney was okay, but he never eclipsed 10 sacks in a single season, and only tallied 29 in his six seasons in Houston. This exercise pushed him down to the No. 15 overall pick, where he lands with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who actually selected Ryan Shazier with that pick.

On the other hand, Donald snagged his 30th sack early in his fourth season. He finished his career with 111 sacks, an absurd total for an interior defensive lineman. Only John Randle and Alan Page had more on the inside. While Watt is listed as a defensive end, he typically rushed the interior, and he finished his career with 114.5 sacks in 12 seasons.

The thought of Watt and Donald, the 1-A and A-1 candidates for the best defensive lineman in modern NFL history, playing on the same defensive line sounds downright unfair. Both players tied Lawrence Taylor’s benchmark with three NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards and are locks as first-ballot Hall of Famers once they are eligible.

It may be a shoulda-coulda-woulda situation looking back on it. After all, no one necessarily expected Clowney to be an average NFL pass rusher. But there’s no denying that Houston would have been the smartest team in the room if they had taken Donald at No. 1 overall instead. They would have gotten instant backlash, sure, but it wouldn’t have taken long for the NFL to concede that the Texans saw what was in store for Donald.

Nonetheless, in the real world, Texans fans have to feel satisfied with just one Hall of Famer on that defensive line. What a letdown, right?