Watt clarifies retirement talk: 'No idea when it's going to be'
Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt wants the world to know he's not considering hanging up his cleats anytime soon.
Talk of Watt's career length arose after the 27-year-old said recently he won't be a player who tries to play as long as possible, and that when he's no longer able to perform with the best, he'll ride off into the sunset.
That led to speculation Watt might not stick around as long as many expected, especially after an injury-ravaged 2015 campaign. However, Watt has clarified those comments, saying he has no firm timetable for his NFL future.
"I have no idea when it's going to be, when I'll retire," Watt told Peter King of the MMQB. "I'm not saying it's not going to be two, three, four years. But I'm also not saying it's going to be nine, 10, 11 years. I literally do not know the answer. What I do know is I'm going to continue to train my ass off. I'm going to continue to work to be the best player in the world, and whenever that doesn't sound fun to me anymore, that's when it's over."
Watt's retirement talk was partially driven by several NFL players who recently chose to walk away from the game early due to worries over their long-term health.
"I respect every guy that has walked away. I think every single guy in this league makes his own decision, and that's perfectly fine," Watt said. "The reason I respect that and the reason I think every guy has his own way of dealing with things, is because in my personal opinion I know what I'm getting into.
"I know that I'm going out there and I know that I am going to get hit in the head, I know that's part of football. That's like a firefighter knowing he is going to go into a fire at some point. You know you are going to be put in danger's way, and you accept that risk and you do it.
"I choose to continue doing it. That's my choice. If I wanted to walk away, I could."
Watt says he's "very, very close" be being fully recovered from a groin injury that required surgery in January, but is still unable to do the type of offseason workouts he's famous for.
"The thing I am working on right now is just my strength and getting it back to where it was - and beyond," Watt said. "I can go forwards, I can go backwards, I can go side to side, but when I go to cut, that's where I am still working to get back. It's almost there. My explosion is getting there."