Let’s play a game.
One of these players made the Pro Bowl and the other no …
Player 1: 43 tackles, 25 solo, 8 TFL, 5 sacks, 25 QB hits, 4 defensive passes, 0 forced fumbles
Player 2: 31 tackles, 22 solo, 9 TFL, 8 sacks, 12 QB hits, 4 defensive passes, 2 forced fumbles
Which of the two do you think made the Pro Bowl?
Well, Player 1 was Maxx Crosby, the Las Vegas Radiers Pro Bowl selection. Player 2? It was lesser-known defensive end Jonathan Greenard. Greenard was the Texans’ second pick in 2020 NFL Draft and his stats this season are impressive even with absences the past two weeks due to COVID (across the defensive front).
We’re not the only ones announcing Greenard’s season as a worthy Pro-Bowl, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox has called Greenard one of the Biggest snobs for the price this season.
This rise in power was not entirely unexpected. He was billed as Texas Rookie of the Year before he even stepped onto the pitch. Greenard didn’t disappoint in the preseason last year. He registered several sacks and appeared to be a theft in the third round. The start of his career was much less superfluous. Several volatile matches and mediocre performances by the special teams took the wave of support and won.
He finished the second half of his rookie year better than it started, but Greenard’s own woes have been cast aside for bigger franchise-level stories as the organization collapses. of the Texans overshadowed the disappointing rookie year. The signing of many defensive linemen by the Texans marked disapproval for the current roster, so why would they inundate this group of so many veterans if they weren’t in awe of who they had. This turned out not to be the case as the cream peaked during the season.
In the shadow of a tumultuous offseason highlighted by Texan deforestation and defense rebuilding, Greenard has slowly but surely entrenched himself as a mainstay of Texan defense. Was Greenard’s Pro-Bowl Season Worthy? In a year where most of the AFC’s defensive ends are underperforming, Greenard’s impact on a bad team doesn’t favor the most player votes. As we saw with Bernardrick McKinney, a Pro-Bowl season usually takes two good performances in a row to get into that group, unless the guy has an otherworldly year.
Maybe not this year, but the continued success will only bring more attention to Greenard. And who knows, if the Texans write a strong ending against him, it will give him even more freedom to perform well.
