Watt watches film for marshal role
Star Texans DE is first NFL player to serve as grand marshal
DAYTONA BEACH — J.J. Watt didn’t become a threetime NFL Defensive Player of the Year without a lot of preparation. So it only made sense that the Houston Texans defensive end would turn to some extra film work as he prepared for the honor of being the grand marshal of Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“I’ve done quite a bit of research and I’ve watched about eight-to-10 years worth of ‘Gentlemen, start your engines,’ ” Watt explained before the start of the 200-lap race. “Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] had a great one last year with tons of energy and passion that I’m going to try to match.
“I practiced in front of my girlfriend last night and she gave me the thumbs-up, so I’m ready to go.”
Watt becomes the first NFL player to kick off the Great American Race, but he’s not totally unfamiliar with NASCAR, crediting a seventh-grade teacher for familiarizing him with the sport.
“Every single day that we would go into his class, he had posters, flags, signs up on the wall: Dick Trickle. He was a massive Dick Trickle fan. So all I knew growing up was Dick Trickle. All right, I don’t know a whole lot about NASCAR but I’m going to be a big Dick Trickle fan,” Watt said. “So my NASCAR experience is Dick Trickle and sprint-car racing.”
Watt had a bounce-back season in 2018 during which he played an entire 16-game schedule for the first time since 2015. Injuries have limited the former Wisconsin Badger to just eight total games in 2016 and 2017.
“A couple of years ago, I started to think a little bit more about my post-career days, but in the last year or so, I’ve started to think a little bit less about it,” he said when asked about his future. “I want those days to be a little bit further away.
“I haven’t had a full offseason in like three years because of all of the injuries I’ve gone through and this is the first offseason I feel awesome and I feel good about training and I feel good about getting back to work, so I’m just looking forward to that at the moment.”
Shaquem’s impact
Watt was one of the first NFL players to identify Shaquem Griffin, tweeting out his support for the former UCF linebacker back in 2017. He said what stood out about Griffin, who became the first one-handed player selected in the NFL draft, is the way he loved playing football.
“The energy he played with, the passion, the way he flew around the field and made plays,” Watt said of Griffin, who just finished his rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks. “I’m a football fan obviously, so just watching good football and being to watch him on film and watching him on Saturdays was fun. And now for him to have a chance in the league is just incredible.
“His story is unbelievable and something we can all learn from, but beyond that just as a football player, he’s a blast to watch.”