The top early candidate for NFL Comeback Player of the Year for 2018 also happens to be a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. I and others recently questioned whether this player's days as an elite defender were over.
After missing 24 games over the last two seasons due to two back surgeries and a broken leg, J.J. Watt is off to a tremendous start this year. The 29-year-old is the NFL co-leader with seven sacks, and he has seven tackles for loss and four forced fumbles.
That's a huge sigh of relief for Texans owner Bob McNair and general manager Brian Gaine, who are paying Watt $11 million this year and, all of the sudden, are getting more than their money's worth.
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Texans coach Bill O'Brien could be saying "I told you so" to all the naysayers. Back in training camp, he saw how Watt had progressed and said he thought the four-time Pro Bowler was indeed the J.J. of old.
"There's no reason he can't do it again," O'Brien told NBC's Peter King at the time.
That was music to the ears of those who love Watt for his work ethic and high performance in his glory years, not to mention the charity work that earned him NFL Man of the Year honors, the drive that raised more than $37 million for hurricane relief in the Houston area.
I’m one of those people. I know Watt personally after trying to help recruit him out of Wisconsin for my agent group. He and his family are class acts, and I’ve always hoped the best for him.
But when O'Brien made his preseason proclamation, I said talk is cheap, and Watt needed prove it on a sustained basis through the regular season. He certainly has done that over the first six weeks.
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That Watt has reached this point is a testament to his tremendous pride and off-the-charts work ethic. The rumblings that he was done as a top player only added to his resolve. Credit also goes to the Texans' medical staff for their diligent injury rehab work with him, and to O'Brien for reinforcing Watt's confidence with his positive public statements.
The NFL also has to be happy that such a popular player and credit to the sport has returned and is playing so well. Watt is truly special for what he has done on and off the field. As a former team executive, I've seen so many players who never approach their top form after the kinds of injuries Watt had to overcome.
Team execs have to plan for the future, but the main focus is always on the current year and next year. From that standpoint, Gaine has to be thrilled. No GM wants to be the person to release or trade a team icon such as Watt. But, a few months ago, that seemed like a more distinct possibility.
In 2016 and ’17 combined, Watt counted $29 million against Houston's salary cap and produced only 1.5 sacks. In bringing Watt back under his current contract, the Texans certainly were aware that if he didn't return to top form or close to it, they could release or trade him in March and absorb just a $2 million dead money hit.
Before this season, McNair and Gaine might have been run out of town had they given up on such a beloved player so quickly. Also helping Watt's cause was the fact that the dead money hit of $15 million against the cap if he were released or traded this year was more than his cap cost if the team kept him.
Houston also could have asked him to take a pay cut with big incentives built in, but that’s difficult and risky with a prideful player like Watt. He easily could have balked at such a proposition, creating an uncomfortable situation.
Now, if Watt can keep up this season’s pace, all that should be a non-issue. And the Texans’ call on whether to keep him next year will be an easy decision.
Watt is slated to make $13 million in salary next season, a bargain compared to the deals recently signed by Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald. Fellow Texan Jadeveon Clowney also is in line to surpass Watt salary-wise as a likely franchise-tagged player.
Things could get dicey when Watt's base salaries jump to $15.5 million in 2020 and $17.5 million in 2021, especially if his performance doesn't stay at this level. By then, quarterback Deshaun Watson probably will not be the relatively inexpensive player he is now under his rookie contract.
I doubt Watt is worried about it, though. The $100 million deal he signed in 2014 made him the league's highest-paid defender at the time. He has made plenty of cash off the field through a multitude of endorsements. Now he's just happy to be back.
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With so much at stake for Watt this season, he is delivering a virtuoso performance. And instead of worrying about the future, Watt will lead his team into Jacksonville on Sunday with the AFC South lead on the line.
Which is what he and the Texans dreamed of during the dark days of the injury and rehab-filled past two years.
Jeff Diamond is a former president of the Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He makes speaking appearances to corporate/civic groups and college classes on Negotiation and Sports Business/Sports Management. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
