J.J. Watt is among the toughest men in the NFL. I don’t even think it’s possible to argue that. And if you did, he’d probably somehow track you down and sack you, just like he has to unfortunate quarterbacks 74.5 times since his rookie year in 2011.
But as it turns out, the Pro Bowl defensive end might be even tougher than we imagined. Sources confirmed that the Houston Texans man played almost the entire last season with some pretty staggering injuries that would have you or I laid up on a couch, begging for some pain meds and chicken soup.
Dude finished out the season with FIVE torn muscles throughout his core. Ouch.
ESPN reports:
By season’s end, Watt had five partially or fully torn muscles in his core area, necessitating surgical repair on both sides of his body.
According to a source, Watt had partially torn left and right abdominals and a partially torn right adductor longus. He also had a fully torn left adductor longus and a fully torn left adductor pectineus, which are two of the three muscles that connect the pelvic bone to the left thigh bone.
Some of those tears happened early in the season.
Watt has never missed a game due to injuries, but 2015 was particularly taxing.
He broke his hand on Dec. 9 and played three games with a club cast. This week, he told Sports Radio 610 that he also had a herniated disk during the season. He appeared on the injury report with that back injury in the week leading up to the Texans’ Nov. 1 win over the Tennessee Titans.
Man, you want to talk about leaving it all out on the field? J.J. Watt is the definition of that. It’s incredible he even finished out the season, much less earned his third Defensive Player of the Year award, having recorded a stupid 17.5 sacks all the while being taxed by those injuries. And he wasn’t the only one…
Safe to say J.J. is enjoying his time off right now, and here’s wishing him a decent recovery from that surgery so he can return to the field and try to eclipse Lawrence Taylor by earning his fourth Defensive Player of the Year title.
[H/T ESPN]