‘This is awesome’: Texans’ Jonathan Greenard named PFWA Good Guy award winner for professionalism with media

Jonathan Greenard is always ready to have a conversation inside the Texans’ locker room. He’s open and forthright about how he and the Texans are doing every week, on and off the field.

For his professionalism, candor, and friendly nature in dealing with the media, the third-year defensive end has been named by the Houston chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America as the Good Guy award winner. Previous winners in recent years include Tyrann Mathieu (2018), Johnathan Joseph (2019), Michael Thomas (2020), and Kamu Grugier-Hill (2021).

“I appreciate this, this is awesome,” Greenard said as he received a plaque. “This is good. I really do appreciate it. Thank you all. I’m here to make y’all’s job easier, y’all make mine easier by asking questions. I’ve got a good relationship with you all, too, so that’s the best part about it. Hopefully, there are more years to come to continue to do this and build relationships. Thank you.”

Greenard said the plaque will be displayed at his home.

“Right in my game room, for sure,” he said. “I’ve got to look at this every day.”

The Texans have endured a rough year, going 2-13-1 heading into the final game of the season Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Greenard spent part of the season on injured reserve with a torn calf muscle he initially thought was a torn Achilles that would have cost him the remainder of his season.

“It’s tough,” Greenard said. “You can’t find one person that loves losing. That’s just not natural playing this game. It’s a physical game. If you’re out there playing to lose, that’s when bad things happen. It’s an adjustment. Overall, we do understand that it’s a process. It’s hard to win in this game at every level, even when you’re in college you talk about those aspects. It’s hard to win those games because you still have to make sure everyone is on the same page because you’re as strong as your weakest link.

“But we do understand we have the pieces, at times. We just got to understand and figure out how to get the right formula to where it’s consistent, and we’re putting out a consistent product to win. As we’ve all seen it, everyone knows, there’s only been a couple games this year where we just flat out knew the outcome once the game prolonged. Every other game, we’ve been a possession away, right there at the end of the game. If that’s what we’re going to hang our hats on, as far as moving forward, it’s a building block, then I do think we see some light in that aspect. We’re right there.”

Aaron Wilson is a contributor to KPRC 2 and click2houston.com