‘More explosive’ Texans pass rusher Jon Greenard ‘playing faster’

HOUSTON – Texans defensive end Jon Greenard busted into the Denver Broncos’ backfield, a man not fooled by fakes as he reacted confidently by delivering a blow to the blockers assigned to him to wreck the play.

Greenard recorded his first sack of the season and the 10th of his career, bringing down Broncos star quarterback Russell Wilson last Sunday during a 16-0 road loss.

It was a combination of toughness and intelligence that paid dividends for the former third-round draft pick from Florida.

Greenard read the play perfectly.

“I just got a little inkling of the tackle looking down a little bit, wanting to play off that,” Greenard said. “They have a scheme where they love to block down that tackle a double the three-tech (defensive tackle Maliek Collins) and I just tried it. Honestly, it was one of those plays we needed a play. I knew that I wasn’t going to get initially blocked so I just took off and played ball after that.”

Greenard has a rare combination of explosiveness and instincts. A year after a breakthrough season during which he recorded a career-high eight sacks and having made a full recovery from offseason foot surgery, Greenard is an emerging dangerous pass rusher with a growing repertoire of pass rushing moves.

Greenard is down to 255 pounds following an offseason spent training hard and practicing a stricter diet.

“He looks a lot quicker this year, more explosive,” Texans defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire said. “He’s using his hands better. That sack that he had in the fourth quarter was great and it’s what we needed. He’s made some impact plays in the first game as well. He’s continuing his development. What I love about him is that he wants to learn. He wants to learn to get better. He’s taking care of his body. He’s playing at a pretty high level right now. We need guys like that to make some big plays for us.”

Greenard has three tackles for losses and two quarterback hits heading into Sunday’s road game against the Denver Broncos.

He has 14 career tackles for losses and 17 quarterback hits.

Down to a lean 255 pounds through a stricter diet and proudly displaying his abs at practice, Greenard looks significantly quicker and is a constant threat to sack the quarterback.

“I’ve trimmed up,” Greenard said. “My body fat is way down. I feel explosive. Look good, feel good, play good. I had to cut back on a lot of stuff on my diet. When I was recovering from the foot surgery, I wanted to make sure I didn’t get big and fat and I stayed on top of my diet. I cut out starches and replaced them with greens. You can’t eat a big old burger or some pizza because it’s going to stick to you.

“I’m really just playing faster, more confident. I got in better shape, dropped a couple pounds, just so I can be more light on my feet and understand what the scheme asks me to do, a lot of moving around and things of that sort. I’m just being overall available and healthy for the team.”

For Greenard, pass rushing is akin to an ultra-physical chess match. He sets up blockers by varying his moves, body language, and studying their technique. In a memorable sequence last season, Greenard froze his rush for a moment to get an Indianapolis Colts tight end leaning in one direction as he was eager to engage the Texans’ third-year defensive end at the line of scrimmage. Then, Greenard grabbed him by the shoulder pads, slinging him to the ground, and crashed into the Colts’ backfield to hit quarterback Carson Wentz.

“That was all about using his momentum against him,” Greenard said. “I like to hesitate sometimes, get their feet moving indecisively. Football is mental. You have to be able to use film study and know what they’re going to do. That’s how you win as a pass rusher. You have to use your head, hands, and feet all working together.”

Whether it’s his signature long-arm move, gaining leverage by shoving an offensive tackle backward with a powerful shove of their shoulder pads before disengaging to sack the quarterback, a spin move, bull rush, speed rush, rip move, or swim move, Greenard is a technician. Shoulder and foot injuries, unfortunately, sidelined him for five games.

The former third-round draft pick from Florida managed to have nine tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits last season in just 52% of the overall defensive snaps.

“Last year, he had limited amount of time on the field, but he was productive, so it’s time for him to take a step,” Texans coach Lovie Smith said. “We need a few of our guys to take that next step to where you’re really talking about them, and Jonathan has the ability to do that.

“Jonathan is a legitimate outside defensive end in the league. I’m anxious to see how far he can go. He’s a big part of what we’re going to do this year.”

Greenard is a classic tweener. He’s a student of the game whose first-step quickness tells a different story than his ordinary 4.87 40-yard dash time. It’s Greenard’s 10-yard split of 1.71 seconds that’s impressive. His first-step quickness, violent power, and ability to create leverage allow him to consistently win at the line of scrimmage. He combines strength, quickness, and heavy hands to control blockers to create big plays.

During a four-game span last October, Greenard had a sack every game (six total). He was on pace for well over 10 sacks before the injuries impacted his season.

Against elusive Bears quarterback Justin Fields, Greenard is thinking attack under control to contain his scrambling.

“He’s an athlete,” Greenard said. That’s what you get drafted early for guys like that. He’s a huge talent, good size, good speed. He’s a young quarterback who’s still growing in this league and making a lot of plays. We understand that from an athletic standpoint, what he can do with us if we’re not honing in on our technique and staying within the defensive scheme. We’re going to do our best to make him feel uncomfortable back there and do our same objective every week: continue to be disruptive.”

Now that the foot injury is completely behind him, Greenard is upbeat about this season.

“It feels good, body is feeling good, mind and spiritual, it’s feeling good,” Greenard said. “The foot is good. I just had a clean-up thing. I had been dealing with it for a while. It feels good. I haven’t had any pain since the surgery. I’m ready to move past it.

“That was the thing that was weighing on me a lot. We got it cleaned up and now we’re good to go. I can plant and explode off the ball. That helps me overall so I can set up guys to get what I want.”

Sacking elusive Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray twice in a game last year, Greenard is intent on providing a consistent presence throughout the season.

“My No. 1 goal is making it through 17 games and being there for my team every single game,” Greenard said.” I understand nobody cares about that. This is a new year. I could have one sack, 10 sacks, don’t matter what it was.

“At the end of the day, we are all going to do that collectively, and that’s going to help us better for the team. And that way we can move forward and get where we want to go.”

Greenard uses his superior arm length to keep blockers at bay and prevent them from getting their hands on his body. He redirects his charge adeptly and is in constant motion, making him an extremely difficult blocking assignment.

“I’ve had long arms pretty much my whole life,” Greenard said. “When they introduced the move to me, it was like, ‘Wow, this move actually does work.’ One arm is longer than the other one, so I’ve been trying to perfect that and building, moving forward, building off of that move, it’s going to be a benefit for me.”

Although he wasn’t able to participate in an annual pass rushing summit with private coach Brandon Jordan, a pass-rushing specialist at Michigan State, Greenard still attended the sessions to watch and learn.

“Jon stepped up a lot,” Jordan said in a telephone interview. “He looked good. He worked hard. It’s just the beginning. He was fighting injuries last season. He’s got a long way to grow. For him to put up the numbers he put up, his upside is out of the roof.”

Greenard’s average as a pass rusher is incredibly high. At one point during the first half of last season, the Georgia native was leading the NFL with a sack for every 13.7 pass-rushing snaps played. That’s a strong batting average.

Greenard was also an impact player for the Gators after transferring from Louisville. He was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection who recorded 9½ sacks, 52 tackles, 15½ for losses, one interception, and three forced fumbles in his final college season.

Greenard is regarded as an ascending young player whose rare motor and growing understanding of how to apply his moves are paying dividends. He’s become the top pass rusher on the Texans. Greenard finished with three more sacks than former Texans defensive end J.J. Watt’s team-high five sacks in 2020 and was a major factor despite Houston’s 4-13 record.

Greenard, more than anything, wants to help the Texans become a winner. That starts Sunday in Chicago at Soldier Field.

“You understand that this game is all about steadily evolving and being innovative with your craft,” Greenard said. “I think we have the talent, it’s just a matter of finishing those plays and understanding we have to find it. There’s not magic to it. We literally have to just put our heads down to work. That’s what every other team does.

“There’s no magical sauce to it. You see them just make plays whenever it comes their way. I think we’ve got the guys to do it. We’ve got to the scheme to do it, the coaches and the staff to do it. It’s just a matter of doing it now, honestly. We’re going to continue to do our best and that’s all that we can try to do from our standpoint.”

Aaron Wilson is a Pro Football Network reporter and a contributor to KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.