Report: Texans to wait on new deal for Clowney

The Houston Texans apparently are willing to take a wait-and-see approach with Jadeveon Clowney on a new contract extension.

Clowney is entering the final season of his five-year rookie contract and is seeking a new deal, but Houston is not expected to reward the former No. 1 overall pick until after the season, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.

The primary concern for the Texans reportedly is the health of Clowney, who played in all 16 games in 2017 for the first time in his career.

Clowney has been rehabbing from arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason and was limited to team drills during the first day of training camp on Thursday. Head coach Bill O'Brien told the Houston Chronicle that he does not expect Clowney to participate in full contact drills on Saturday.

"Some guys are needing to get back into a little better football shape right now as far as playing football, he comes under that category," O'Brien said. "He'll be ready to go pretty soon. I'm not concerned about him, though. He wasn't able to, because of his rehab and all that, he wasn't able to be in OTAs."

The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Clowney's 15.5 sacks are tied for 23rd among NFL players since the beginning of the 2016 season, he has 37 tackles for losses, second to Arizona Cardinals defensive end Chandler Jones.

However, Houston general manager Brian Gaine said earlier this week that the No. 1 focus was to get Clowney healthy and noted that he planned to adhere to the team's policy of not negotiating contracts during the regular season.