T.J. Watt, the younger brother of Texans superstar and walking cliche J.J. Watt and Chargers fullback Derek Watt, will join his older siblings in the NFL at some point this weekend in the NFL Draft. T.J. Watt is a late-first round talent as a defensive end out of Wisconsin, and figures to hear his name called late on Thursday night, and if not, very early on Friday in Philadelphia.
Watt’s immediate name recognition comes courtesy of his incredibly talented and famous brother, but he’s no slouch on the football field himself. The youngest Watt had 63 tackles (15.5 for loss) and 11.5 sacks in 2016 for the Badgers, and he performed better at the NFL Combine than his more famous brother did coming out of college. The skills, production, and athleticism make Watt an intriguing prospect, but his pedigree doesn’t hurt either.
Robert Mays profiled T.J. Watt for The Ringer, who explained he has grown to accept the fact that he’s going to be J.J.’s little brother until he makes enough noise in the NFL. Sometimes, he’s even reminded that he’s J.J.’s little brother by J.J. himself, as best evidenced by this tremendous anecdote about an unwise bet T.J. made to be his older brother’s driver for a summer if he could flip and catch a 55-pound weight with his left hand.
The sh*t-talking between the Watt siblings, especially oldest and youngest, can be downright harsh. T.J. remembers the first time he bested his brother in a significant way, when he broke J.J.’s high school shot put record, which had once been held by their father. “There’s something about when J.J. and I are competing,” T.J. says. “It’s, ‘Screw you. I’m better than you, how does it feel?’” T.J. recounts one of their recent clashes as he sits behind the wheel of the 2015 GMC Yukon given to J.J. for winning Defensive MVP at the Pro Bowl. The brothers were messing around at the gym one afternoon, seeing if they could flip a 55-pound plate and catch it with the same hand. T.J. laid down a bet: If J.J. could do it with his left hand, T.J. would chauffeur him around for the length of J.J.’s offseason stay in Wisconsin. Let’s just say T.J. has gotten used to how the Yukon handles. “That was just a stupid bet on his part,” J.J. says.
Big beefy boys will be big beefy boys, I guess. Look, all I really know about J.J. Watt comes from that one season of Hard Knocks where he sang Fort Minor and that’s enough for me to know you don’t challenge him to anything in the gym. That dude’s a maniac. T.J. grew up with him so of all people he should know this. I also like how Watt brother bets are pretty much just George Costanza TV story pitch ideas.
Anyways, the real tragedy is that there isn’t video of this feat because I would very much like to see how J.J. managed to pull that off.
