Houston Texans: Look out NFL, J.J. Watt feeling ‘great’

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt says he feels great after his first practice since surgery in January

It’s been a tough offseason for Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt as far as football goes. After suffering through an injury-plagued season the reigning Defensive Player of the Year had to have surgery to repair five core muscles.

For someone who works as hard as Watt, the surgery wasn’t the worst part. It was the waiting he had to do as he hadn’t been able to practice since the January surgery. Fortunately though, Monday marked the end of that wait as J.J. was able to get on the field for the first time this offseason.

"“It felt really good to be back with my teammates and feel part of the squad again,” Watt said per Tania Ganguli of ESPN. “My body felt great. Performed really well.”"

That’s great news for Texans fans as Watt spent most of 2015 fighting just to be on the field. He played in all 16 games but battled the muscle tears as well as a broken hand.

Even while being limited Watt was able to record 76 tackles and 17.5 quarterback sacks en route to his third Defensive Player of the Year award. Watt has now won the award three times in five NFL seasons. For some perspective, New York Giants legendary pass rusher Lawrence Taylor won the same award three times as well…in 13 NFL seasons!

After the award-winning season, Watt raised some eyebrows when he openly discussed his NFL mortality. Peter King of Sports Illustrated even called this season “huge” for Watt in terms of deciding how long he will end up playing in this league. King discussed how taxing the injuries really were on Watt (even though he won’t say it himself).

Next: Peter King discusses J.J. Watt's 2016 season

Knowing that Watt felt great after his first practice should help Texans’ fans breathe just a little easier as the season quickly approaches.