J.J. Watt has made the Houston Texans look like geniuses throughout the past decade with the franchise since being selected in the first round out of Wisconsin back in 2011. Since then, Watt became the face of the franchise during the prime years of his career, and he did so by producing on and off the field.
Watt asked for and was granted his release for the Houston Texans on Friday, and now the conversation topic goes to where does J.J. Watt rank among the greatest first-round picks in franchise history?
Watt is one of 18 players to have the distinction of being a first-round pick for the Houston Texans, as he was the 11th overall selection out of Wisconsin, and since then the defensive end has made a very big name for himself in the NFL.
The most notable honors for Watt have to be his three Defensive Player of the Year awards won in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and in 2017 he was also the Walter Payton Man of the Year. There were also the accolades of being on the 2010s Pro Football Hall of Fame team, plus he was on the 2011 NFL All-Rookie Team, and he was voted onto the NFL Top 100 list eight times since 2013.
The former defensive end of the Texans also made five Pro Bowl teams, he was Player of the Month six times, he’s been a first-team All-Pro on five occasions and he’s also been named the NFL Player of the Week seven times during his tenure with the Texans.
There is also the fact that J.J. Watt led the NFL in sacks twice, and four times total he’s ranked in the Top 10 of that category. All in all, Watt had a great decade with the Houston Texans, but his 11th season in the league will be played elsewhere. Now the question this is asking is not if J.J. Watt is the greatest first-round pick in franchise history, but why is he the greatest first-round pick ever made by the Texans?
Here are five reasons why J.J. Watt is the best first-round pick ever made by the Texans.
Houston, I wanted you to hear this directly from me... pic.twitter.com/YqT3P6Lb6l
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) February 12, 2021
5. J.J. Watt was better than any Texans defensive player before his arrival
Eleven times in franchise history, the Houston Texans have selected a defensive player in the first round of the NFL Draft, with the first time coming in 2004, the third draft in Texans history. That year the Texans made two first-round picks, both on defense, when they selected cornerback Dunta Robinson with the 10th overall pick, and Jason Babin, a defensive end with the 27th overall selection.
That was the start of a trend where the Texans selected defense in four consecutive drafts. After the ’04 draft, defensive tackle Travis Johnson was next in ’05 as the 16th overall pick. He was followed in ’06 by defensive end Mario Williams as the No. 1 overall pick that year. In ’07, it was back to the interior defensive line when Amobi Okoye was selected with the 10th overall pick.
No player on the Texans drafted before Watt was better than him, and here is why.
To compare the first five defensive players drafted to the franchise before Watt, they had a combined 23 seasons with the Texans, totaling 14 interceptions and zero touchdowns on those interceptions and 83 sacks.
J.J. Watt, on the other hand, finished his 10 years with the Texans with two interceptions, two touchdowns and 101 sacks, all in 128 games played in the regular season. Twice, Watt led the NFL in sacks, with 20.5 in 2012 and 17.5 in 2015.
Watt even had a span of three out of four seasons where injuries got the best of him, causing him to miss 32 games, so imagine if he played in those games what his career numbers would have been if not for those injuries.
4. J.J. Watt out-performed other first-round defensive picks from 2009-15
The Houston Texans drafted linebacker Brian Cushing in 2009 with the 15th overall pick. and then cornerback Kareem Jackson at 20th overall in ’10. J.J. Watt was drafted in 2011 to the Texans with the 11th overall pick, as that pick was actually a franchise-changing moment for Houston.
After selecting Watt in ’12, the Texans selected linebacker Whitney Mercilus with the 26th overall pick. The ’14 pick by the Texans was a No. 1 overall selection, as that’s when Jadeveon Clowney joined the team, and the defensive end had an interesting stay during his Texans career.
The most recent first-round pick by the Texans for defense was ’15 when Kevin Johnson joined the team as a cornerback with the 16th selection.
Not to overlook the accomplishments of players listed above, but none of them were as great as Watt during their time with the Houston Texans or with any other team they happened to play for in their careers.
This group of five players was better in the sacks category than the first group of five defensive players selected by the Texans. This group totaled 27 interceptions with four touchdowns (only two more than Watt in his career) and 98.5 sacks, which Watt alone achieved more sacks during his tenure as a Houston Texans defensive end.
Don’t be mistaken, Cushing was an excellent player for the Texans, as were Jackson and Clowney. Mercilus is still in the starting lineup with the franchise, but when compared to Watt, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year is just that much better, which is saying a lot when compared to those talented players.
3. J.J. Watt became a household name from his very first year
The rookie season of J.J. Watt was one that landed him on the 2011 All-Rookie Team with the likes of Cam Newton, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Von Miller, Mike Pouncey, Patrick Peterson and others, as the ’11 draft class seems to be a special group of players.
In his third game as a professional, Watt recorded his first sack against the New Orleans Saints, where in that game he also totaled four solo tackles, two tackles for loss and one QB hit. In fact, during the first three games of Watt’s career he had one QB hit in each game, and in his NFL debut, the defensive end Watt had a fumble recovery.
As a rookie, J.J. Watt finished with 16 starts, 5.5 sacks, 49 solo tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 19 QB hits, four passes defensed and two fumble recoveries. That season, the Texans finished 10-6 overall, winning their first AFC South championship in franchise history.
Watt had his first multi-sack game during his rookie season, and that was against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 27, 2011, recording two sacks.
Even from that point as a rookie, it was easy to see special things were coming for Watt. Being that he was the Texans’ first-round pick that season, it was evident he was going to be a franchise-changing player like Andre Johnson was back in ’03 when he was selected third overall by the Texans.
2. J.J. Watt’s importance is more than just on the field
J.J. Watt became a more important player to the franchise on the field, and of course, off the field as well.
Watt’s presence on the team made the Houston Texans franchise more noticeable, and at one time a very competitive team, with Watt being a part of each division championship team.
His importance to the Texans on the field made him that much more important to the city of Houston off the field with the J.J. Watt Foundation, and all the support Watt obtained during Hurricane Harvey was more important that any sack he made or any football achievement earned.
J.J. Watt has done many great things for Houston. Not only was he a great player for the Texans on the field for 128 regular-season games, but for his 10 seasons with the Texans, all the great things he achieved, and helped others achieve, in his time with the Texans makes him the greatest — and most important — first-round pick in franchise history. Without Watt, there are many folks in Houston who wouldn’t have the help and support they received, and that is the most important part of Watt’s career and legacy in Houston.
1. J.J. Watt has great company in “greatest ever” conversation
There have been first-round picks in Houston Texans history that haven’t been mentioned yet, and they are David Carr (’02), Andre Johnson (’03), Duane Brown (’08), DeAndre Hopkins (’13), Will Fuller (’16), Deshaun Watson (’17) and Tytus Howard (’19).
No offense to Carr, Fuller and Howard, but that will be their final mention, because now it is time to talk about the very best first-round picks in Texans history and why Watt is at the top of the list.
Andre Johnson — the ’03 third overall pick — at one time was the greatest Houston Texans player ever, and he is still the greatest Texans offensive player to ever wear their uniform. In 12 seasons with the Texans, Johnson finished with 1,012 receptions for 13,597 yards with 64 touchdowns.
Jonson’s résumé speaks for itself, as he’s the only player in the Texans Ring of Honor, and he’s now eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to which he should be inducted to sooner rather than later.
In ’13, the Texans drafted another great wide receiver, that being DeAndre Hopkins with the 27th pick out of Clemson. Hopkins was the second greatest wide receiver to ever play for the Texans, collecting 632 receptions for 8,602 yards and 54 touchdowns in those seven seasons.
If his time were not cut short, as he was traded after seven seasons, even greater things would have been achieved by the Texans with Hopkins.
Then there is ’17 first-round pick Deshaun Watson, who was the 12th overall selection and just the second quarterback picked in the first round by the franchise. There is no doubt that Watson is the greatest quarterback in franchise history, but after just four seasons in Houston, his time is most likely coming to an end as well.
Watson has asked to be traded from the only franchise he’s played for, and though it will probably happen at some point this offseason, that doesn’t take away all that Watson has achieved with the Texans.
Like Watt, Watson has been a part of the past two AFC South championships, and like Watt, Watson became a face of the franchise in a short period of time. Watson just had his best season as a professional quarterback as he was the NFL passing leader, and he set the single-season touchdown pass record for the Texans as well.
As great as Watson, Johnson and even 2008 first-round pick Duane Brown (the greatest OT in franchise history) are, none of them have made the same impact as J.J. Watt has with the Houston Texans.
If there was a Mount Rushmore of first-round picks for the Houston Texans, those four faces — Watt, Watson, Brown and Johnson — would be etched into the monument, and there wouldn’t be much to debate.
But when picking “the greatest” and “the most important” Houston Texans first-round pick, that honor must go to J.J. Watt for everything that he achieved with the franchise over the past decade as the face of the franchise.