The Pittsburgh Steelers hit a grand slam when they selected outside linebacker, TJ Watt with their first round pick in 2017. Somehow, the dominant force of Watt dropped all the way to 30th overall, and he's been making every team that selected before the Steelers regret the decision to pass on him since. He's the epitome of Pittsburgh Steelers' football and he represents the organization like no other every time he steps onto a football field. This year, he's excited to be back in Latrobe for the first time in a few years to get this upcoming 2022 season started!
Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher, TJ Watt (#90) participates in drills during training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA on July 28, 2022. | Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO
In a recent interview with NBC Sports' reporter Peter King, Watt discussed several topics including how his career could've ended before it really began.
King asked Watt about the two full seasons that he didn't play at Wisconsin after the university recruited him, "For somebody who lives for football the way you did, what was it like to not step on the field for two years?"
"Humbling, incredibly humbling," Watt answered in the interview. "I think the thing that I learned most about myself is how much I love the game over that period of time."
King clarified that the year was 2013-2014 and Watt stated that he wasn't fully healthy until the 2015 season.
"So I redshirted for most of the year, I needed to redshirt," Watt continued to detail why he didn't play his first two collegiate years. "I was young, 18 year old kid going up against 22 year old grown men needed to just develop. And then during bowl prep of my freshman year, I had an MPFL repair." King interjected and asked, "What is that exactly?""So I tore my MPFL, it's basically dislocating your knee cap so it pops out like this and you get these nice scars." Watt pointed at the scars on his knee.
YouTube Channel: NFL on NBC
On the feeling of that injury:
"Terrible, so brutal," Watt continued. "I actually didn't get the surgery until it tore like two or three times. So I waited, tried to recover from it and then came back in spring ball and same thing happened to the other knee. And then eventually it got to a point where I just said, 'We need to get the surgery and just see what happens here.' So I got the surgery on the one, fixed it, came back for fall ball and the other one tore again. So I said, 'okay.'"
Did Watt think his career was over after the injury-riddled couple of years?
"Of course," Watt answered. "It was a situation where I said, 'I'm going to get the surgery on the left one, so now both are surgically repaired and if it tears one more time, I'm done. I'm not going to go through this my whole college career. This sucks.' Having to be on crutches for three months at a time, that was basically when I made the commitment to myself that I was going to dedicate my life to football and trying to be the best player that I can be."
Linebacker T.J. Watt just won AFC Defensive Player of the Week, but the schizophrenic Steelers D is just as likely to give up a big play as to make one. The concerning implications of the defense's dual personality disorder are a problem in Pittsburgh. (Photo by the Pittsburgh Steelers)
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