J.J. Watt

J.J. Watt accepts that he may not be able to walk at age 50

Published Oct. 20, 2016 4:36 p.m. ET

Brett Smiley

Last season, Houston Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt put his body through absolute hell and came away with his third NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, an accomplishment only Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor can claim as well. The price: a lot of pain, surgeries and possible long-term health consequences.

"I live with the fact that while I am playing, I am going to give everything I have, and I will live with those consequences," Watt told Men's Journal. "Maybe when I'm 50 I won't be able to walk, and I will say, 'You were young and stupid.' But right now this is my mentality."

In case you forgot what he endured and played through last season: a fractured left hand, a herniated disc in his back that may delay his 2016 debut by a week or two, and five fully or partially torn core muscles (his groin injuries) that also required surgery to repair. Despite all that, he managed 17.5 sacks, 32 QB hits, 26 hurries, eight batted balls, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Pain is the cost of doing business in the NFL. A myriad of injuries forced the 30-year-old Calvin Johnson into an unexpectedly early retirement in March.

“Last year, was definitely by far the most strenuous on my body that I’ve ever had," Watt told Houston's Triple Threat in March. "I was fighting through a bunch of things that I’ve never dealt with before. We had the broken hand. I had a herniated disk in my back halfway through the year. I had, obviously, everything that went on with my groins and I don’t think everyone fully understand what that process was like.”

During the offseason, Watt visited Texans punter Shane Lechler, who was pretty troubled by what he witnessed when Watt struggled to get out of his car. "I was standing next to my wife," Lechler recalled, "and I thought, 'Look, the best defensive player in the game can barely walk.'"

Lechler also said that he's tried to get Watt to slow it down a bit during the season, but that he still shows up on mandated days off. "I told him, 'That's great, and you are performing better than any defensive player in the game right now, but I'm worried about you in the very near future — now, not like the guys already in their fifties and sixties.'"

If Watt has a son someday, maybe he'll tell him that although he reached the Hall of Fame, he was young and stupid, and might play it differently if given the chance. Maybe he'll have no regrets. Maybe he'll also tell him to forget defense and to take up punting.

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J.J. Watt

Houston Texans