JJ Watt In Retirement
This has been another commonly requested comic in the comments over the last few months, and it did indeed finally deserve one. JJ was a big character in the Draw Play’s early years because I liked to make fun of him for being one of those football robots who hates fun and probably posts very annoying motivational garbage on LinkedIn. But the fact is, JJ Watt is a future Hall of Famer, and he deserved one final due.
His retirement was honestly kind of quiet and low-key. Part of that was Watt himself not being the type to make a big thing out of that, and part of it was that Watt was running on fumes by the end there, long past his prime, and I doubt anyone expected him to last any longer. It also didn’t help the Cardinals were immolating at the time. Watt reminds me of Gronk in the sense that when he was healthy, he was an absolutely dominant force no one else could touch. A star that shined so brightly that looking at him felt dangerous. But like the brightest stars he burned out pretty fast. The injuries piled up quickly and he went from one of the best linemen we’ve ever seen to just an often injured savvy veteran.
I’m actually stunned how quickly we all sort of forgot about Prime Watt. Aaron Donald came around playing the same basic position and is even better, and we just sorta forgot how hype the Watt train was at its peak. 2012 was maybe the best year I’ve ever seen a defensive lineman ever have. I was genuinely mad he didn’t get MVP that year, and him being overlooked that much is actually what changed my mind on the MVP award as a whole. MVP is automatically a QB by the sheer nature of the sport. It’ll never be anything but a QB’s award to lose, even RBs don’t stand much chance now with how the sport has changed. Watt straight up did things I’d never even seen before that season and he barely got any votes. The MVP award should simply change to be a QB-specific award, like a Cy Young award is for pitchers. Make offensive and defensive players of the year for every other position to fight over. All of this is my opinion because of JJ Watt blowing my fucking mind.
Like Gronk I don’t think he was ever quite the same after his back problems. Still great, but not what he once was. This year he even had to get his heart shocked back into a normal rhythm, which scared the shit out of me in concept. I’m not surprised to see him go, but I will miss him. I may tease the man but I’m sure he has a number of important things to do now. He was always a class act of a man and a very giving philantropist.
He also was pretty good in his cameo on The League. You should all watch that clip, because it also has a different random NFL cameo in it that in retrospect is extremely funny.
EDIT: He saw it, if I never make another comic again, you know why
Goodbye megawatt you will be missed I always wanted to se this man win a super bowl im sad he never did i salute you JJ now pass the torch to TJ. also thanks for the TJ watt camio Dave!
Feel like that second cameo needs to come with a trigger warning.
Kinda funny that you use the year a Running Back won the MVP as the one that soured you on the MVP
You’re right, that was AP’s year, but it was also the last season anyone other than a QB won it, and the only RB between 2006 and now to win it. I didn’t expect Watt to win, but it felt like he wasn’t even in the conversation by the end. It was just AP’s ridiculous year, maybe the last truly great RB year, or Peyton Manning doing his regular thing
It was probably because the media decided there was only “room” for one non-QB in the discussion and what AP was doing was seen as more impressive I guess.
Watt did at least get a decent amount of votes two years later though.
One last razz on the way out! Godspeed JJ!
I remember thinking the same thing as you during the end-of-year awards that monster year of his thinking we need a better way to adequately honor other players in a league that just wants to venerate QBs and the occasional RB du jour. On some level you could argue we have that in OPOY and DPOY, but those aren’t always equal and it would be great to have (as you suggest) a QBOY and a Best Overall which would be one of the three OY awards.
There just has to be a better way to reward guys like JJ who are so game-breaking that they defy the usual statistics. I think he even had 5 TDs that year in addition to 20 sacks and 4 or 5 forced fumbles. That just screams “Value” but it’s tough to be more “valuable” than a position that just inherently touches the ball every play.
The five touchdowns came in 2014, one of his two other DPOY years. Prime JJ Watt was just otherworldly.
I feel like the league should move towards the NHL/CFB model and have multiple awards that honor each position. You can even name it after former players to give some instant gravitas to the award. You could have the Reggie White Trophy for the best defensive linesman, or the Tony Gonzalez trophy for the best TE. There could even be awards given based on having the highest stats at a position like the Devin Hester for the most combined return yards or the Jim Brown award for the most rushing yards in a season. It could give the league a way to honor positions that otherwise receive no other recognition beyond the pro bowl, and be a good measuring stick for players in the same position.
The Cody Parkey kicker of the year award?
For the kicker who hits the most posts/crossbars during the season including playoffs.
Went to post this same type of comment. It would make those players work harder to be recognized as the best at their position, as having a best football player doesn’t make sense with all the skilled positions.
Let Peyton be the QB guy, he can ham it up and get a new sponsorship for it every year as we cringe-laugh.
Congrats/condolences on getting noticed.
You finally did it Dave, Thank You.
Watt impact in Houston will never be forgotten. That Pick-6 against the Bengals, will be in the minds of all Texans fans. His insane 2014-2015 years which may be the best 2 years of any defensive players ever. His impact on Hurricane Harvey. His Sack in the Wild Card in 2019. He would have gone down as the greatest, if not, one of the greatest DE’s in NFL history if it wasn’t for his injuries.
Also I feel like people forget that Watt was still good when he wasn’t injured, he wasn’t that legendary player anymore but he was still a good run stopper.