When the open their season against the on Sept. 13, will be on the field. This much head coach Bill O'Brien knows. "I don't know if I have a pitch count yet ready for him for the first game, but I think he's come a long way," O'Brien said Friday, per. "He's been out there practicing. We've done a lot of things with him on the field that involve contact, that involve a lot of the moves that he's going to have to make, whether it's in Manny Machado Jersey the running game or dropping into pa s coverage, which he'll do some of that, or rushing the pa ser."Microfracture surgery has a way of derailing a promising career, which is why all eyes will be on the former No. 1 overall pick this season. Clowney did not play in any warmup games this August, adding to the intrigue.If Clowney is healthy, and in any way reminiscent of the player he was in college, the ' defense has a chance to be extraordinary -- so much so that it could negate some of their deficiencies on offense. If he can't reach that point in his athletic career again, it will be one of the great disappointments in sports.Clowney, we often forget, is a once-in-a-generation talent. Though his combination of size and speed is taken for granted, his emergence onto the scene in college was a turning point in the way NFL personnel heads looked at defensive players.If nothing else, the fan in all of us should hope O'Brien, however he decides to handle Clowney's workload, is doing so the right way. Chris Tillman Jersey