Cardinals DE J.J. Watt Opens up After Retirement Announcement
TEMPE -- Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt has two more games left in the tank.
Yesterday, Watt shook the world of professional football with a tweet that announced he had played the final home game of his career, one that spans 12 years and is full of accomplishments that will allow him to enter the halls of Canton, OH when eligible.
With 9.5 sacks this season, Watt has seen some of his best football played in years. Conversations began on how much Watt would command on the open market, should he want to leave Arizona.
As it turns out, he's leaving the game of football altogether.
"I'm playing good football, knowing that I could still play and knowing that hopefully people remember me playing football, then to go out, limping out and being forced out and knowing that I probably should have done it earlier … Like I'm young. I don't want that to get lost," Watt told reporters at the team's practice facility on Wednesday.
"Like I'm 33-years-old. I feel like I'm young. I have a whole life in front of me. I feel great. My body feels great. I'm really just looking forward to the future, whatever that may be."
Watt's press conference was indeed full of laughs, true to the character of Watt both as a person and player. He told stories of a teammate Facetiming him right after getting out of wisdom tooth removal speaking incoherently and managed to slip a few curse words (because why not, right?) during his time at the microphone.
Yet retirement is a serious decision, one that Watt didn't take lightly.
"I've added some incredible new pieces to my life, my wife and my son, that certainly take a lot of my focus and my energy. But the wins and the losses of every single week and the energy and force that I've put into every week and the preparation has never changed. And I think that's honestly part of the reason that it's time to walk away because I don't want all my energy to go to that anymore," said Watt.
"I'm ready to not commit all my energy to that. I'm ready to watch my son grow up and ready to spend more time with my wife. I'm ready for a new challenge, whatever that challenge may be I'm looking forward to see what else is out there."
Watt will go down as one of the best defensive players of all-time. He's just one of three players ever to win the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award on three different occasions.
In spite of his dominance, which initially sprouted in Houston before making its way to the desert, injuries managed to derail at least some of his greatness.
"I have obviously gone through some injuries over my career. And that's extremely frustrating, because I know what I'm capable of, and I know who I can be and who I should be as a player. There's been years I haven't been able to display that and I haven't been able to be that player, and that hurt, there was no question about it," Watt said.
"Being able to play good ball, being able to leave good memories and being able to have some good film to show my son, that was definitely important to me. So I think that's also part of the reason that despite playing decent ball right now it's a good time to walk away."
For any successful person, the path to the top was accompanied by plenty of people and helping hands along the way.
Watt's journey is no different.
"The thing I don't want to get lost in that I've never did it alone. I mean, I've had so many incredible people help me. My parents always say it, it's an old adage: it takes a village to raise a child. It surely has taken many villages to raise me and to help me become who I am and to do the things that I've done," he said.
"I didn't do anything by myself. I didn't train myself. I didn't feed myself. I didn't build my foundation by myself. I didn't build my career by myself. I didn't run that Hurricane Fundraiser by myself. I had incredible people every single step of the way. I'm unbelievably fortunate. Coaches, trainers, players, obviously my parents, my family, my wife, my brothers.
"I've had countless, countless people help me along the way and I've had unbelievable fans the whole time. And the only thing that I can say at the end of it all is that I hope I made everybody proud, because that's my ultimate goal. I want all those people to know that their efforts weren't in vain."
Watt has achieved nearly everything possible since first entering the league in 2011. The list of accolades and accomplishments spans a mile wide, yet the only empty spot in the trophy case is perhaps the most important: A Super Bowl trophy.
As competitive as he is, Watt admits the struggle of knowing he'll never reach the pinnacle of NFL football was something he dealt with for a long time.
"It's extremely tough and I think that's definitely something that I've wrestled with, in trying to put perspective on my career because there's certainly a huge part of me that is always going to be sad and disappointed and frustrated that I could never get to the championship. That was heavy on me for a very long time," Watt said.
"But then I also was given a perspective at one point to say, look back and think about if you were a child, what you've accomplished. If you'd be proud of it and if you'd be thankful for it. And that's why I say I'm walking away with nothing but love and gratitude. Because, did I win the championship? No. But I literally lived out a dream that millions of people would kill for. I have a job that anybody would love. I literally get to do things that I never in my wildest dreams thought I could do."
Watt's known for awhile he was going to retire, but was unsure of exactly how he was going to announce it to the rest of the world. He says he didn't know he was going to break the news via Tweet until he actually hit send.
"I didn't know until yesterday morning when I sent it out. The whole time, I've talked to my agents, talked to my family, everybody's known no notice and how are you gonna do it? How you gonna do it? I have no idea … The pictures of Koa from the game, that was the whole reason we had Koa at the game. It was his first ever game and all that. I just wanted those photographs. But when I saw the pictures and everything with my parents, with Koa, with my wife, I was like this is the perfect way," said Watt.
"I'm actually thankful, there's some people in the building that have known for a long time. Maybe they thought I was joking but I have told people this is my last year for a long time. I'm very thankful everybody kept it quiet. You guys know I've had some issues with leaks in the past, so I'm very thankful."
Now, with just two games left in his career, Watt plans on walking away on his terms, something not every player has had the luxury of doing.
"It's the dream. So many are forced out of this game. So many are told that their time has come. So to be able to make my own decision, to be able to do it on my own terms, I'm thankful for that," he said.
The Cardinals are set to play the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers to conclude the regular season.
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