J.J. Watt staying busy in retirement, joins CBS

Last updated: 2023/06/30 at 12:24 PM

BigP Published June 30, 2023

DJ Bien-Aime, ESPNJun 29, 2023, 12:11 PM ET
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J.J. Watt, who retired after the 2022 season, is joining CBS Sports as an analyst.

Joining CBS highlights a busy offseason for the NFL legend in his first year of retirement. Last month, Watt, along with his wife, former United States midfielder Kealia Watt, became minority investors in Burnley Football Club, an English association soccer club based in Burnley, Lancashire, that was just promoted to the Premier League. Before investing, J.J. Watt said he did “research” by participating in a pub crawl in Burnley to understand “the history, tradition and supporters.”

Watt made the announcement that he was joining CBS in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday.

Sorry, sorry…

C “B” S.

Very excited to be joining the crew for a few Sunday’s this fall!! @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/TrF6PEzGAy

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) June 29, 2023

“I love the game too much to be away from it entirely. I’m very excited to be joining CBS Sports to contribute across all their NFL shows and platforms, including working alongside and learning from JB, Coach, Boomer, Phil and Nate this fall,” Watt said in a statement from CBS. “Hopefully fans will enjoy the insights and knowledge I’ve gained over my 12 years in the NFL and if we’re lucky, we’ll share a few laughs along the way as well.”

The 34-year-old defensive end played his last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals after spending his first 10 with the Houston Texans, who drafted him with the No. 11 overall pick out of Wisconsin in 2011. Watt totaled 114.5 career sacks in his career and earned the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

“We are thrilled to welcome J.J. to the CBS Sports family and add one of the greatest defensive players of all time to our team,” CBS Sports president David Berson said in the statement. “As he steps off the field after a Hall of Fame career, J.J. brings deep passion, unique insights and opinions from today’s NFL. We think fans will love what J.J. brings to our coverage.”

In June, the Texans announced they will induct Watt into the team’s Ring of Honor during halftime of Week 4 on Oct. 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.