J.J. Watt Regrets Not Signing With Steelers
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers fanbase held hopes for two years that the trio of Watt brothers would unite in the Steel City. Those hopes vanished when J.J. Watt announced his retirement from the NFL, shutting down any chances of one day joining T.J. in black and gold.
Since then, he's bought a soccer team, moved back to Houston and began life as a dad. He's joked a few times about returning to the game, but never anything serious. What he has done, though, is talk about a small regret he holds - that he never accepted the opportunity to play with his brothers.
"When free agency came about, I’ve said it before, T.J. was going through a contract situation. They didn’t have his contract figured out and everything, so I didn’t want to mess with that at all," Watt said in an interview with Fox Sports. "I wanted to make sure he had his situation figured out and get taken care of there, and I didn’t want my free agency addition to take any money away from his opportunity.
"There’s definitely a part of me that wishes I could’ve played with them," he continued. "... It would have been an absolute dream come true to play with all three of us on the same team."
The Watt tandem would have quickly become a fan favorite, and even if J.J. missed most of the 2021 season because of an injury, he returned in 2022 to finish his career with a 12.5-sack year.
T.J. did get his contract and went on to win Defensive Player of the Year. The Steelers have since grown with Alex Highsmith, and are now four deep, with Markus Golden and Nick Herbig joining the mix.
Still, you'll always wonder what it would've been like to have the Watt brothers on opposite ends of a defensive line.
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