J.J. Watt will be appearing as an analyst for The NFL on CBS on its signature studio program, The NFL Today, following his retirement after a 12-year National Football League career with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. When Watt announced that he would be signing with CBS Sports, it marked the end of his quest to find a television home. He took some time to mull over the potential options about working in television, something that he wanted to do when his playing career began to reach its end.
Early in his career though, Watt had a completely different sentiment towards serving as a television analyst. In fact, he never wanted to work in the role because he could see how certain television personalities did not know the context of what they were discussing, nor were they privy to the inner workings of an organization.
“I said, ‘Those guys don’t know what they’re talking about and they don’t know their assignments,’” Watt remembered thinking while playing. “….Leaving the game, I’ve realized how much I love it and how much I can’t stand to not be around it. This is the perfect opportunity.”
Watt was drafted by the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft and culminated a storied NFL career with five Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections. Widely regarded as one of the most skilled defensive ends in the history of the game, he won the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award after raising $37 million for victims affected by Hurricane Harvey.
“One of the biggest things for me, this year specifically, was that I didn’t want to retire and feel like I immediately jumped back into a full-time job,” Watt said. “….I just had a son last fall, and this was very important to me to have a Thanksgiving [and] a Christmas with my son. CBS was extremely kind in working with me on that and allowing me to ease into it, which is great.”
In entering television, Watt worries about his opinions suddenly becoming headlines and then being revisited when things do not go exactly according to how he foresaw them unfolding. As a former player, he also understands that while he knows about esoteric parts of the game, he does not have complete insight.
Watt’s new colleague, Nate Burleson, expressed how he felt “terrified” when he joined The NFL Today in 2017. He discussed a competitive element to the studio show and how the program is not, by any means, something that the analysts show up to perform simply to collect a check.
“Once you get into that room with some actual big dogs and they start barking, I think the natural thing to do is to shrink yourself on the set,” Burleson said. “What I’ve loved working on this crew… they were like, ‘We brought you here for a reason. Be that guy; be that same dude we see on all these other shows.'”
Watt remembers when he was a player that he would receive calls from his grandmother asking him why analysts were criticizing him in the ways that they were on television studio programs. While he knows he has a job to fulfill, he does not want to be the root cause of similar inquiries towards other players; that is, outside of his brother, T.J., a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Just what Watt’s style of analysis will be remains to be seen, but it is certain that he already feels at home with The NFL Today studio panel. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year will bring a new perspective to a panel featuring several former offensive players and coaches and is scheduled to make his debut in Week 1.
“It’s being part of a great team like this,” Watt said. “These guys have incredible chemistry; they’re the best in the business at this job.”
