CNN
—
JJ Watt was in a flood of tears after being proven an emotional tribute video of household and NFL stars like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers forward of his ultimate NFL recreation.
The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year performed the ultimate recreation of an illustrious profession over the weekend within the Cardinals’ 38-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Ahead of the sport, as a part of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” collection, his coach Matt Burke stunned Watt and his teammates with the video.
Manning, Prescott and Rodgers all congratulated Watt on his profession, however Brady had a barely totally different take.
“Man, you were a pain in my ass for a long time,” he chuckled earlier than saying, “It was an honor to share the field with you.”
Watt’s members of the family have been extra emotional of their tributes. Younger brother TJ, who’s a exterior linebacker for the Pitsburgh Steelers mentioned, “I simply need to say congratulations on retirement.
“You and your resiliency throughout all of these ups and downs, you ending up in the NFL and you being a Defensive Player of the Year and you having all the success that you had showed me that it was possible.”
The clip, broadly shared on social media, regularly minimize to Watt who was unable to include his feelings as he watched the messages roll in earlier than it concluded with a spherical of applause from his teammates.
The Cardinals defensive finish introduced his retirement in December after he and his spouse Kealia had given beginning to their first little one, Koa.
Watt had additionally revealed in a social media publish that he underwent remedy for atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat described by many victims as a “quiver,” “flutter” or “flip-flop” of the guts.
An emotional Kealia featured within the video saying, “It has been such an honor to look at you’re employed your ass off these previous years and do no matter you wanted to do to be the perfect.
“You’ve always been so generous and kind and loving to everybody around you, and you never forgot who you are.”
Watt definitely didn’t neglect who he was in his ultimate recreation, ending with two sacks, 5 tackles and a move deflection. It was the end result of one of many strongest defensive careers in latest NFL historical past.
The greatest images from the 2022 NFL season
Watt ended his NFL profession with 114.5 sacks, 586 tackles, 27 compelled fumbles and 70 passes defended in 151 video games performed. He owns the Texans franchise report for probably the most profession sacks with 101 and is the one participant in NFL historical past to report two, separate 20-sack seasons.
He was a seven-time All Pro, five-time Pro Bowler and was the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2017.
