With a full season in the rear-view mirror, Jadeveon Clowney is looking forward to a more normal offseason for getting healthy and improving.
"It'll be great," Clowney said Sunday. "I think it'll be real. I'm just going to work on my craft a lot, work on the things I need to work on and next year's going to be a big, big season for me in this league. I know I can dominate this league."
Clowney will begin his offseason recovering from a mid-foot sprain that kept him out of the AFC Wild Card game against Kansas City as well as the Jan. 3 game against Jacksonville.
"J.D. Clowney has a mid-foot sprain, tough injury," head coach Bill O'Brien said Sunday. "Knew later in the week that he wasn't going to be able to run and plant off it and was frustrated by that, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to play in the game."
It does not appear that Clowney will require surgery for his injury, according to O'Brien. Clowney remains optimistic that he can build off what he started in 2015, especially after working his way back to the field in Week 1, just nine months after recovering from microfracture knee surgery.
"I think the best thing that he can do is get the foot ready to go where he can move, which hopefully that'll be soon and then go have a great offseason," O'Brien said. "Come back in great shape, come back here strong, ready to go, knowledge of the system, I think the best thing he can do for himself is have a great offseason."
Clowney finished his 2015 campaign with 40 tackles (27 solo), 4.5 sacks for a loss of 43.5 yards, six passes defensed, eight quarterback hits, eight tackles for loss, and one forced fumble through 13 games with nine starts. The second-year outside linebacker also was selected by his teammates as the 2015 Ed Block Courage Award winner.
Check out the action from before the Wild Card matchup with Kansas City.
