Written by Chris Wesseling at NFL.com
J.J. Watt will have to wait until next season to make a serious run at an unprecedented fourth NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
The league’s dominant defensive force re-injured his back during Houston’s Week 3 loss to the New England Patriots, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
The Texans will be re-signing veteran defensive end Antonio Smith for depth, a source informed of the one-year agreement has told NFL.com’s Mike Garofolo.
Watt is expected to be sidelined for an extended period of time, per Rapoport, perhaps even for the rest of the season. The Texans will likely place him on injured reserve Wednesday, Rapoport added, via a source informed of their plans. The hope is that he can return for a late-season playoff run.
The 27-year-old star missed the entire preseason after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk in late July.
Although Watt has yet to miss a game in his six-year career, he has suffered major injuries two of the last four times he has suited up.
Watt recently revealed that hequestioned whether he would play again after tearing several abdominal muscles off the bone in the Texans’ playoff loss to the Chiefs last January. Aggravating his back injury last week, Watt managed fewer than three tackles and zero quarterback hits for the first time since his rookie year in 2011.
He simply hasn’t been the same disruptive wrecking ball since rushing back from July’s surgery. That’s hardly unusual for players returning from similar procedures.
Even with a diminished Watt, the Texans had emerged as the heavy favorites in an underwhelming AFC South. Buoyed by the linebacking quartet of Jadeveon Clowney, John Simon, Whitney Mercilus and Benardrick McKinney, Houston’s pass rush was the league’s most ferocious in Weeks 1 and 2.
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