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Fatherhood adds extra motivation for Texans DE Jonathan Greenard

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Sept. 24, 2023, will always hold a special place in Houston Texans defensive end Jonathan Greenard’s heart.

Not because he helped the Texans get their first victory of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was an accomplishment within itself with all of the injuries the team sustained going into the game, but because it was the day he and his bride-to-be, Altagracia Marte welcomed into the world a beautiful baby girl named Rayna Greenard.

“Baby girl [Rayna] got here, and I could not help it,” Greenard said about the tears that flowed down his face continuously when he held his daughter for the first time. “Just to see my fiancée still doing well after everything and my baby girl healthy, that was everything, and I lost it as soon as I seen her and she seen me, and we locked eyes; it was just one of those experiences you can’t explain.”

“I have an extra chip on my shoulder, obviously, knowing that I am playing for somebody who looks up to you, and you can do no wrong in their eyes. It just adds that much more fun to the game and more motivation as well.”

Before he took the field on Sunday, Greenard got a call as the team was headed to stretch from his fiancée that her water had broken and that she was headed to the hospital. Yet, he did not switch up his pregame routine and played the game with the same intensity he brings to the field weekly.

“She told me to just go play the game, and everything will be fine back in Houston,” said Greenard. “As a matter of fact, she watched the game from the hospital bed. She said she felt as if she was sending positive vibes my way, letting me know everything was going to be okay.”

With the confidence of knowing that everything was being taken care of medically back in Houston for the arrival of his daughter, the fourth-year defensive end took that mini-pregame speech and used it as motivation to intimidate Jacksonville’s offense all game. The things that Greenard does on the defensive side of the ball don’t always show up on the stat sheet, but his intangibles make defensive coordinator Matt Burke smile when he watches the film.

“‘J.G.’ [Jonathan Greenard] has been great,” Burke said at his weekly press conference. “Asking him to do those things: be disruptive, attack, get off the ball. He’s a real cerebral player, so he really wants to know the ‘why’s’ and know the ins and outs, and I think that helps him perform on Sunday, so he’s a real studious guy that I think takes it from the meeting room to the practice field to the games, and that intent and purposefulness has been showing up.”

Greenard’s presence helped the Texans maintain their 24-10 lead in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. With Jacksonville looking to gain more second-half momentum, they faced third and seven from their own 38. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence dropped back, searching for a wide receiver he could complete a pass to so that they could keep the drive going. While in the pocket, he felt pressure from Greenard, who started the play from the linebacker position. He came behind rookie defensive end Will Anderson and was quickly in Lawrence’s face, causing him to throw an interception to linebacker Blake Cashman.

“He is a very smart player,” said Anderson about Greenard. “He is very instinctive. I tell him all the time, ‘There are a lot of things that you can do that I would never think of in a million years to do.’ He is a fantastic guy. I watch him work every day; he is crafty, he wants it, he is hungry for it. Just being in the room with him he keeps everyone on edge. When you have a guy in the room that demands excellence and keeps a high standard of himself and everybody else makes the room great.”

Even with all the accolades the former First-Team All-SEC player out of Florida receives, it still will never be enough to put himself before the team.

“When you make plays, it is like you are supposed to do that,” Greenard said exclusively to the Texans Wire about his non-selfish attitude. “Of course, we hold ourselves to a different standard. I just want to win. None of that [Individual stats] matters if we are making stats and we still ain’t showing up. I am just going to keep grinding and helping my teams get more wins moving forward.”