J.J. Watt Keeps Speculating About The End of His Career

Professional football avatar J.J. Watt previously has hinted that his career may not be long for this world, but Wednesday during a light-hearted-but-wide-ranging Q&A on the Houston radio waves, Watt made a point of saying he would quit playing as soon as he was not among the best defensive linemen in the NFL.

"“It’s not going to be terribly longer, but I am also going to play as long as I can enjoy it and have fun,” Watt told hosts Nick Wright and Jon Lopez of Sports Radio 610."

Watt, 27, just finished his fifth season with the Houston Texans, who drafted him No. 11 overall in 2011. Since 2012, he has won three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards and in 2014 became the first defensive player since 2008 to receive MVP votes. Point being, J.J. Watt is, like, the best.

And J.J. Watt doesn’t see much point playing if he isn’t.

Watt was on 610 ostensibly to promote a charity event and answer some vaporous questions, and he finished an answer to a question about which era he’d most like to play in (the 90s) with some unsolicited gravity.

"I’m not gonna play terribly much longer myself, here."

Wright plumbed for more information, which Watt eagerly provided.

"I’m going to continue to play until I feel like I’m not playing at that highest level anymore. I can tell you right now, I’m not going to be one of those guys that plays as long as he possibly can. I don’t have any interest in doing that."

Watt just finished year one of a 6-year, $100 million contract with Houston, so there is no clear leverage play for Watt against the Texans. And yet he seems to be going out of his way to shoehorn these thoughts into conversations that are only tangentially related.

On the same radio station for the same ostensible purpose last week, Watt said he wants to coach high school football when his playing career is over, and last month he said the 2015 season was the hardest yet on his body, with injuries ranging from a broken hand to a herniated disk to a groin pull.

Watt has always had a sophisticated understanding of himself as a generator of news, but it’s nonetheless curious timing for all of this.