HOUSTON (AP) — Jadeveon Clowney never imagined he’d play for the Texans again when he was traded to Seattle amid a contract dispute before the 2019 season.
But after seven years and six teams the defensive end is back where his career began after re-signing Sunday with the team that picked him first overall in 2014.
Clowney has changed a lot since he arrived in Houston as a 21-year-old.
“I’m grown,” he said after his first workout with the Texans Tuesday. “I was a big kid at first when I first got here. I grew up different than a lot of these guys. When I was born, my dad was in jail. I grew up in a single-parent home. I grew up a lot different. ... but coming back now, I’m a veteran in the locker room, a lot older, a lot smarter than I was before.”
He joins a defense that ranked among the best in the league in almost every category last season. Houston has stars Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter as its starting defensive ends but could use Clowney as a situational pass rusher after he had 8½ sacks for the Cowboys last season.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was asked about adding Clowney to a team that already has so much talent at defensive end.
“The rich get richer,” he said. “He’s a great player. Excited to work with him.”
Clowney signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with incentives that could push his salary to $8 million. The 33-year-old said he could have made more money if he’d signed elsewhere but at this point in his career winning is all that matters to him.
“My whole thing was to chase the Super Bowl this year,” he said. “There’s no better place for me to do it.”
Clowney did not have any lingering bitterness towards the Texans because of how his first stint with the team ended. He said his problems back then were specific to one person.
“I didn’t have any hard feelings,” he said. “It was just (former Texans coach Bill) O’Brien at the time. Him and I bumped heads. I couldn’t really understand because I was an easygoing guy.”
Current Houston coach DeMeco Ryans isn’t worried about his past with the team.
“He’s been a successful player, had a successful career,” Ryans said. “He brings a physical aspect to the football game, to our defense. A guy who can get after the passer as well.”
Clowney is happy to have signed with the Texans early in camp after he didn’t get picked up by the Cowboys last season until Sept. 14.
“It’s going to be a lot different this year because I’m going to learn a playbook before the season starts,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot smoother season for me.”
Along with one season each in Seattle and Dallas, he also was with Tennessee, Cleveland, Baltimore and Carolina since leaving Houston. Clowney had 9½ sacks with the Ravens in 2023, which tied his career-high that came with the Texans in 2017.
Clowney loves the culture Ryans has built in Houston and he’s looking forward to playing for his fearsome defense in what will be his 13th season.
“He puts a lot of great guys around him in coaches and you can feel the energy and all the other guys can feel it,” he said. “I know great things are going to happen here for me and the team. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity.”
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FILE - Houston Texans' Jadeveon Clowney rushes during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles Dec. 23, 2018, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to the United States in retaliation for Brazil’s denial of visas last month for two American diplomats who sought to visit ahead of upcoming elections as well as Brazil’s stalling on approving President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador in Brasilia.
The State Department said the decision was a reciprocal response to Brazil’s actions and officials said the step had been delayed several times to give Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva room to back down, something he did not do. Officials said, however, that it could be quickly reversed if Brazil takes appropriate action and accepts Trump’s ambassadorial choice.
Trump has had a fractious relationship for some time with Lula's administration, which has opposed him on numerous policies, particularly in the Western Hemisphere regarding Venezuela and Cuba. Their relationship also has been strained by Trump’s fondness for Lula’s first term successor and then predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest, and his son Flávio, who is Lula’s main opponent in October election.
Lula has spared Trump himself from criticism and claims they liked each other when they first met at the United Nations Assembly General in September of last year. The Brazilian leader has blamed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for some of the actions against his country.
Despite the revocation of her visa, Brazil’s ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti is not being expelled from the United States, said one State Department official, who like several others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic matter. The ambassador was previously a senior United Nations official.
She could be allowed to resume her official duties if the Brazilian government accepts Trump’s choice of former Florida House speaker Danny Perez to be U.S. ambassador to Brazil. Perez was nominated to the post in June and the official said Brazil had signaled it would not act on the appointment until after the first round of Brazil's election on Oct. 4.
In addition to stalling on Perez, Brazil denied visas last month for Riley Barnes, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, and one of his top aides after reports emerged that the pair were going to criticize Lula or the election process.
The State Department denied the allegations and said the two had planned to visit Brasilia on July 27-30 to meet government officials, religious leaders and others about “election integrity,” religious freedom and freedom of expression.
It said the visit was routine and that “any insinuation of a ‘ploy’ to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie.”
Brazil’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press about the revocation of the ambassador’s visa, but last week a top Brazilian diplomat told journalists the government was expecting a response from the U.S.
The diplomat also mentioned the U.S. government had triggered the proceedings to send Perez to Brasilia before seeking Brazil’s approval, which is not standard diplomatic procedure. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss the matter publicly.
The same Brazilian diplomat told the AP on Tuesday, also under condition of anonymity, that the Lula administration is trying to figure out why the U.S. government is rushing to have an ambassador in Brasilia only months before October's election. The post in the Brazilian capital has been vacant since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Lula, who is 80 and seeking his fourth term as Brazil's president, will face Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father once served as Brazil's president and whose family has many ties with the Trump administration.
Sen. Bolsonaro and his brother, Eduardo, visited U.S. officials in Washington, including Trump, in late May. Shortly afterward, the Trump administration classified Brazil’s biggest drug-trafficking groups — First Command Capital and Red Command — as foreign terrorist organizations, a move Lula opposes.
The Trump administration also imposed an up to 37.5% tariff hike on thousands of Brazilian exports, which came into force Friday. The U.S. government claims the South American nation has unfair competition practices and fails to stop forced labor practices — both accusations rejected by the Lula administration as an attempt to sway the election to Sen. Bolsonaro.
Jair Bolsonaro has for years fed concerns about the country’s electronic voting system, without providing any evidence for his claims. He is now serving a 27-year prison sentence at home for an attempted coup. He has long insisted that the machines, used for a quarter-century, are prone to fraud.
Sen. Bolsonaro has recently repeated some of these claims, although he steered clear of those on Saturday when his Liberal Party confirmed him as a presidential candidate in Sao Paulo.
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks to supporters during the Workers' Party convention, where he was confirmed as the party's presidential candidate for the next election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
