J.J. Watt Addresses Recovery Timetable

Off to a strong start in his first season with the Cardinals, J.J. Watt went down with a barrage of injuries in late October. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year delved into his timetable Wednesday.

Watt has undergone shoulder surgery, but the Cardinals have pushed back on the notion he is done for the year. Watt is now doing the same, though the timetable he did reveal will make a postseason return a long-odds prospect.

“They tell me I’m done, I have to get surgery and it’s going to take four to six months,” Watt said during a YouTube interview with Houston teenager Maanav Gupta (via AZCardinals.com). “I’m sitting there and I can easily pout and easily say, ‘Woe is me, four to six months, I’ll do what I have to do.’ But instead I said, ‘Nah, I’m not going to accept that.'”

The 11th-year defensive lineman said his rehab is going “much better than we could’ve hoped or expected,” but he stopped short of revealing when he could potentially come back. Watt went down during the Cards’ Week 7 game, on Oct. 24. He suffered a torn labrum, bicep, rotator cuff and a separated shoulder. Even beating his timetable by a month would mean a late-January return. Given the way the Cardinals’ past two games have gone, it is obviously no given they are still playing by the divisional or championship rounds.

A quicker-than-expected comeback would not be out of the ordinary for Watt, who returned from a pectoral tear to play in the Texans’ two playoff games in 2019. Although Watt has only played 341 defensive snaps, Pro Football Focus slotted him as a top-10 interior D-lineman this season. Watt is signed through the 2022 season.