Very few human beings have been as good at their job as J.J. Watt during his era as an actual football player. The accolades were never ending — five time first team All Pro, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and the list goes on and on.
The thing about football players is that the adjustment to life after football is much harder than regular folks would think. The sad fact is that a majority of former NFL players wind up one (or more) of bankrupt, divorced, or addicted to some sort of substance. J.J. Watt is none of those things. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve seen a player master life after football quite like Watt.
Personally, he is happily married to a gorgeous former women’s soccer player, has two beautiful kids, and flies private to numerous luxurious excursions throughout the years. Professionally, Watt has rapidly ascended to the top of the mountain in the broadcasting industry, and that meteoric rise took a fascinating turn this past week.
In case you missed it, former Cowboys quarterback and A-team CBS NFL color analyst Tony Romo was arrested for driving drunk last week in his home state of Wisconsin (which ironically is also Watt’s home state). Romo, who was already under fire for the rapid deterioration of the quality of his work before the arrest, was put an indefinite leave of absence last week by CBS.
As an adjunct to CBS’ decision to back burner Romo, the powers that be decided to promote, at least on an interim basis, Watt that one last rung up the CBS NFL broadcasting ladder. For the time being, Watt will be part of the A-team on CBS’ broadcast roster, joining Houston legend Jim Nantz, who Is one of the premier play by play guys in history.
Now, here comes the Houston angle on this story. As an AFC team, the Texans play a majority of their games on CBS. As a GOOD AFC team, they are getting announce teams that are higher up the CBS roster, which again, is now led by the Nantz-Watt pairing. On top of that, the Texans are undefeated in the four games they’ve played with Watt on the announce crew, with a sporty 4-0 record last season in those games.
The BIG question now is “Will Watt be on the call for the Houston Texans’ season opener in Week 1, at home, against the Buffalo Bills?” For reference, here is CBS’ slate of telecasts, with start times, in Week 1:
- Bills at TEXANS, Noon
- Jets at Titans, Noon
- Ravens at Colts, Noon
- Browns at Jaguars, Noon
- Packers at Vikings, 3:25pm
- Cardinals at Chargers, 3:25pm
Again, Watt and Nantz are going to get the highest profile game each week. I think that’s an important distinction — it’s not “THE BEST” game, it’s the one that has the highest profile. So let’s quickly wipe the board of a few of these. There is a zero percent chance that Jets-Titans, Ravens-Colts, Browns-Jaguars, and Cardinals-Chargers get top billing.
This leaves Bills-Texans and Packers-Vikings. I think undoubtedly the Bills-Texans game features better rosters, top to bottom, than the Packers-Vikings game. However, the 3:25 p.m. start time of Packers-Vikings is a tell. That game is in a window in which CBS tends to put “priority” matchups. Thus, I am guessing Watt and Nantz are headed to Minneapolis for Week 1.
The Texans will just have to find a way to beat Josh Allen and the Bills without the karmic assistance of J.J. Watt. The good news is that Allen is 0-4 as a starter at Reliant Stadium. Let’s get it done.
