MEMORABLE MOMENTS
A timeline of some key events during the Texans career of J.J. Watt.
2011
April 28 — With the 11th pick in the NFL draft, the Texans take defensive end J.J. Watt from Wisconsin (after starting his college career at Central Michigan). The pick was met with some boos at the Texans’ draft party. Years later, Texans general manager Rick Smith said he actually had a trade in place with the 49ers to move up to No. 7 to take LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson. But the Cardinals took Peterson fifth, with the Texans standing pat and drafting Watt, whom new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips had lobbied for.
Sept. 25 — A starter since Day 1, Watt records his first career sack in his third game, taking down Saints quarterback Drew Brees in a 40-33 loss at New Orleans. Watt finishes his first regular season with 5½ sacks, 13 tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries. He makes the All-Rookie team and finishes tied for third in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting behind winner Von Miller of the Broncos and the 49ers’ Aldon Smith.
2012
Jan. 7 — In his breakthrough moment on the national stage during an AFC wild-card game, Watt returns an interception 29 yards for a touchdown before halftime to spark the Texans to a 31-10 rout of the Bengals in the first playoff game in franchise history. The Texans’ season ends the following week with a loss at Baltimore in the divisional round.
Dec. 30 — Watt follows up his solid rookie season with a monster sophomore campaign, recording 20½, including a pair of threesack games, as the Texans go 12-4 for the best record in franchise history. He also sets a NFL record for defensive linemen with 16 passes defensed en route to earning first team AllPro honors.
2013
Feb. 2 — Watt is a runaway winner of the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award, taking 49 of the 50 votes (the other went to the Broncos’ Von Miller). Dec. 29 — Watt leads the Texans with 10½ sacks but the team loses its final 14 games after a 2-0 start, leading to the firing of coach Gary Kubiak and his staff and ushering in the Bill O’Brien era.
2014
Sept. 2 — A couple weeks after expressing his frustration over the inability to finalize a contract extension, Watt and the Texans agree to a six-year, $100 million deal that will keep him under contract through the 2021 season. Watt tears up at the news conference to announce the deal. Sept. 14 — Watt, formerly a tight end at Central Michigan, catches his first NFL touchdown in the Texans’ 30-14 win at Oakland. Sept. 28 — Watt records his first career interception and returns it 80 yards for a touchdown during the Texans’ 23-17 home win over the Bills. It’s a busy day, as he also records nine quarterback hits, five tackles and a pass defensed. Nov. 16 — In a dominant performance, Watt records a sack, forces and recovers a fumble and also catches a touchdown pass during the Texans’ 23-7 win at Cleveland. He repeated the feat two weeks later against the Titans, this time with two sacks.
Dec. 28 — While the Texans miss the playoffs, Watt finishes with three sacks in the season finale against Jacksonville to become the first player to record two 20-season sacks, finishing with 20½. He’s voted first team All-Pro for the third consecutive year .
2015
Jan. 31 — Watt wins his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in three seasons, becoming the first unanimous selection for the award. Watt also finishes second to Packers QB Aaron Rodgers for the NFL MVP award, receiving 13 votes.
Sept. 20 — With a sack during a loss at Carolina, Watt records the 60th of his career in his 66th game, becoming the secondfastest to accomplish the feat behind Hall of Famer Reggie White (47 games). Nov. 1 — Watt dials up one of his greatest games in a 20-6 home win over Tennessee with 2½ sacks, 10 QB hits and a forced fumble.
2016
Jan. 3 — Watt ends the regular season with a dominant performance, recording a season-high three sacks, three tackles for loss, four QB hits, a forced fumble and fumble recovery in a 30-6 rout of the Jaguars. He finishes with an NFL-best 17½ sacks and for the fourth consecutive year is voted a first team All-Pro selection and to the Pro Bowl.
Jan. 9 — An embarrassing wild-card round loss to the Chiefs sees Bill O’Brien make one of his most infamous moves as Texans coach, deploying Watt and fellow defensive lineman Vince Wilfork in the offensive backfield in a goal-line formation derided as the “Wattcat.” On a direct snap, Watt is stopped for a 1-yard loss as the Texans are blasted 30-0 at home. Feb. 6 — Watt wins his third NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in four seasons, joining Giants Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor as the only three-time winners of the award.
March 31 — It’s revealed Watt played with five partially or fully torn muscles in his core area at the end of the 2015 season. Watt had partially torn left and right abdominals, a partially torn right adductor longus, a fully torn left adductor longus and a fully torn left adductor pectineus. May 25 — In a nod to his growing off-the-field profile and social media reach, Watt is named a co-host for the CMT Music Awards alongside Fox’s Erin Andrews.
Sept. 28 — After just three games, Watt is lost for the rest of the season with an injury to his back that had undergone offseason surgery. That ends his streak of 83 consecutive starts since entering the NFL. He later undergoes his second back surgery in three months.
Aug. 27 — As Hurricane Harvey devastates the Houston area with 51 inches of rain, Watt posts an emotional video to social media asking for fundraising assistance to help victims of the storm. Watt’s relief fund eventually raises $41.6 million.
Sept. 10 — Watt makes his return to the field in the Texans’ opener against the Jaguars, drawing the loudest cheers in the pregame introductions.
Oct. 8 — For the second consecutive year, Watt’s season ends abruptly. This time, it’s a tibial plateau fracture of his left leg, breaking the top of the shin bone within the knee joint. Oct. 27 — Taking the field on crutches as he’s weeks removed from surgery, Watt throws out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park.
Dec 4 — Sports Illustrated names Watt and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, the American League MVP fresh off helping his team win the World Series, its Sportspersons of the Year for 2017 during an episode of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
2018
Feb 3 — After his fundraising efforts to help victims of Hurricane Harvey, Watt is presented the NFL’s highest off-field honor, the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
Sept. 23 — After missing most of the past two seasons with injuries, Watt records his first three-sack game since 2015 in the Texans’ home-opener loss to the Giants. He finishes the season with 16 sacks to earn first team All-Pro honors for the fifth time in his career. It’s his fourth 15-sack season, the second-most in NFL history behind Reggie White’s five.
2019
Oct. 27 — Eight games into the season, Watt is injured for the third time in four years, suffering a torn pectoral during a home win over the Raiders. The injury is expected to end his season.
2020
Jan. 4 — Watt is cleared to return for the Texans’ playoff opener against the Bills and his third-quarter sack helps spark a comeback from a double-digit deficit as the Texans win 22-19 in overtime. The season ends in infamous fashion the next week as the Texans blow a 24-0 lead in losing at Kansas City.
Feb. 15 — In the Bahamas, Watt marries former Houston Dash star Kealia Ohai after four years of dating. Ohai is the sister of former Texans teammate Brian Cushing’s wife Megan. Sept. 10 — In the first NFL game after the country’s racial reckoning following the killing of former Houston resident George Floyd in police custody, Texans and Chiefs players line up for a show of unity at midfield to boos from the limited-capacity crowd in Kansas City. That left Watt bewildered. “I mean, the booing during that moment was unfortunate,” he said. “I don’t fully understand that. There was no flag involved. There was nothing involved other than two teams coming together to show unity.”
Sept. 20 — After teammate Ross Blacklock is ejected during a home loss to the Ravens, Watt calls out the rookie, who’d grown up in the Houston area and watched Watt. “It’s stupid,” Watt said. “It’s selfish. It was a stupid play. I’ve spoken to Ross before and so it pisses me off. It’s very dumb to hurt your team in that type of setting for no reason.”
Oct. 7 — The final weeks of Bill O’Brien’s tenure as Texans coach included a frustrated O’Brien getting into a heated argument with Watt and coordinator Anthony Weaver. Watt later said he didn’t have any ill will toward O’Brien, saying, “I’m not going to talk about what happened at practice or what conversations were had or whatever that might be.”
Nov. 4 — As the Texans’ season goes down the tubes, Watt acknowledges he doesn’t have interest in being part of a lengthy rebuilding project. “I don’t think it’s any secret that I don’t have 10 years left in this league,” Watt said. “I personally believe that I do have a few more great ones left in me, but I’m not looking to rebuild. I’m looking to go after a championship, and that’s what I want to do. Whatever is in the best interest of the Houston Texans, that’s in the best interest of myself. I’m interested in winning a championship in this league. That’s every player’s goal.”
Nov. 8 — Watt records his 100th career sack in the Texans’ victory at Jacksonville, becoming the fifthfastest NFL player to reach the milestone, doing it in his 120th career game. The only ones to get to 100 sacks sooner were Reggie White (96 games), Lawrence Taylor (106), DeMarcus Ware (113) and Bruce Smith (115).
Dec. 27 — After a desultory Texans loss to a Bengals team without its top quarterback, running back and wide receiver, Watt unleashes an epic rant that, while not calling out any individual teammates, seemed to question the team’s work ethic and professionalism. He added in sympathy for the fans who’ve endured such a trying season.
2021
Jan. 2 — Watt plays what will be his final game in a Texans uniform, a 41-38 home loss to the Titans. As he and quarterback Deshaun Watson walk off the field, NFL Films cameras record Watt telling him, “I’m sorry; we wasted one of your years. We should have 11 wins.”
Feb. 12 — Watt posts a video on social media informing fans he’s requested his release from the Texans and the McNair family will accommodate him, ending his tenure in Houston after 10 seasons.