Jadeveon Clowney's road to recovery has begun.
General manager and executive vice president Rick Smith is optimistic about Clowney's prognosis following the outside linebacker's season-ending microfracture knee surgery on Monday.
"Our expectation is that he will make a full recovery," Smith said in an exclusive interview with Texans Radio Thursday night. "That's exactly why we decided to take this approach and so, hopefully, that's what happens."
The Texans first-overall draft pick will begin the recovery period with a non-weight bearing phase where he won't be able to put any weight on his knee. He will then progress to passive motion exercises and rehab, working on regaining strength in his knee and getting the muscles activated around it.
"It's an eight to nine-month process and that's what we've talked about," Smith said. "I'm certainly not going to try and put any type of pressure on the young man to get back before he's ready. What we're going to do is be diligent with the rehab. He understands how important that is and how hard he's got to work at that and once he's ready to go, we'll add him back out here."
Clowney was placed on injured reserve this week and outside linebacker Jason Ankrah was promoted to the active roster.
