Last month, Arizona Cardinals star defensive end JJ Shocked the NFL and sports world when he announced that he would be retiring at the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season with the decision seemingly coming out of nowhere when he was still seemingly playing his best football. And after he played his final game on Sunday afternoon, Watt had a confession that made his decision to retire even more surprising.
While most athletes choose to retire when they are well past their prime and can’t perform up to their standards anymore, JJ Watt revealed that this was not the case for him when he was making his retirement decision. He is still a very capable pass rusher, and he knows it. Yet, he’s still walking away from the game because he wants to.
“I know I still can,” Watt said when asked if he can still play, according to the Arizona Cardinals team website. “I’m just choosing not to.”
Watt revealed that he was not emotional about the decision until Sunday afternoon when the team put together a tribute video to honor him.
“I have not been emotional through the whole process,” Watt said. “I had not been emotional back when I made my decision, I wasn’t emotional last week really, I wasn’t emotional at the last practice, I wasn’t really emotional at the meetings (Saturday) night. I was just ready to go to bed.
“Then (defensive line coach Matt) Burke got up and explained putting together the video. The second that video turned on, I lost it. I absolutely lost it. I was bawling like a baby, and I didn’t stop until well until the night.”
Even though Watt played his final NFL game on the road, he still got a standing ovation from the San Francisco 49ers crowd.
