T.J. Watt: Steelers defensive superstar

Graham Bensinger travels to Pewaukee, Wisconsin, to spend a day with NFL star T.J. Watt. The perennial all-pro reflects on his unorthodox childhood, growing up in the shadow of his brothers J.J. and Derek. Watt gets candid about his feelings of abandonment and resentment during high school, his battles with injuries and the mindset that later fueled his rise. Plus, he shares the powerful story of his daughter’s birth.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Carlos, give me a card. Who?
Brought this guy, I promise. Memory card that's important.
Needs your help. Huh?
I was a junior and senior when JD was really starting to blow.
Up how do you think at the time it affected you it?
Made me resent my brother in a weird way.
Were you depressed at the time? Yeah, because I couldn't, I

(00:29):
couldn't go out like I'm, I'm going to do everything that I
possibly can to make it to the NFL.
Winning a playoff game is absolutely motivating me.
It's something that we haven't been able to do since I've been
there. I think that's absolutely
unacceptable. For the longest time, I tell
people I feel, I truly feel likeI was pro in the search to play
football. I can sit here now and say
that's absolutely not the case. How long has it taken you to at

(00:52):
least feel like you're in some sort of rhythm with it, even if
you haven't fully adjusted? I'm getting into you because
you're getting ready. It's so funny.
We have a full time or part timeresearcher who's been with us

(01:12):
for like 14 years. You're tough to find stuff on
from NFL days on. There's a ton Wisconsin and.
Growing up, there's really not much.
You know what I'm not? Well, you just don't like doing
this. Stuff, yeah, exactly.
Like even now, like I'm kind of off social media almost
completely. I download Instagram every now
and then, but it's kind of like unless it's like an

(01:35):
advertisement or some sort of deal like that, I don't, I kind
of don't see the point of like necessarily having to include
people. And what was what was Brett
saying earlier? I do OK, raise a new Instagram
like me. Yep, wife's standard, like
anniversary. Yeah, birthday.
And then like, yeah, that's likewhen I have to redownload it,
you know, I'm like, I can't missthis one.
I know I didn't do dad's birthday this year and I was

(01:56):
like, I don't know if he'll see it again.
Mother's Day. I think if we Yeah, right.
I know probably bring the price down on the social media post
but I don't care at this point. It is kind of poison though.
I mean that it's like you can just sit down control.
Well, when you're holding the baby too, it's like, what else
am I going to do? I'm sitting at two hours.
Like screen time is just going through the roof.

(02:17):
Do you have? You only have one account?
Or do you have an account that? Like no one account, yeah, a lot
with an offense though or something like that.
I hear that. How do you have?
Like accounts that like you follow, you know, joke.
Crap, you know, like none of that.
It actually like how I got off Twitter was me and her big had a
I bet last year, like who can stay off social media or Twitter

(02:38):
the longest? Oh really?
We just both deleted it and I went to get it back after the
season I got on. I was like this is too much
going on. Let me just get rid of it so
it's allowed me to be more present.
Absolutely. Like, no doubt.
And if you're off it, you don't really miss it after a little
bit. You're right, you're right.

(03:01):
Was it OK that I put the shoes on?
Absolutely whatever you want. We had them off going down here
and then I just put them over for the interview, yeah.
Ferragamos or something? I'm trying to look.
Yeah, those. Are the NFL stars you got the
receding hairline and everythingso I'm like enjoying my waning

(03:24):
days of being so this is. Going to be quite the catalog.
Do you know what you're having? A boy or girl?
Oh boy. Awesome.
This is going to be so cool for them to look back on.
This is kind of why I wanted to do it too, just to be able to
have it. That's when John goes.
TJ doesn't do these, he said. He's never doing it again, but
he's going to do it this one time because he figures

(03:44):
something to show the kids something.
That would be cool. That's I think it's great.
I really do. All right, I think now we're
good to go. How's being a father?
Fun it it's an absolute blast. It is to the mornings are the
best. Obviously it's also great, but
the mornings to be able to go upthere and wake her up and she's
always so smiley in the morningsand giggly.

(04:06):
It's it's the best. How does it compare to what you
were expecting? It's so different because I, I
kept telling Danny like, it doesn't feel real.
It doesn't feel and she's like, look at me, I have a baby in my
belly. She can because she can feel it.
Obviously she has a baby inside of her, but I'm just kind of
going through my life like everything is normal, right?

(04:26):
Except for putting a crib together and things like that.
So I didn't really have an expectation of what I thought it
would feel like. But once, I mean, she came out
and I saw her for the first time, it was it's, it's been
over since. Abject terror or no, Like
completely comfortable with it. I'm pretty comfortable with it,
honestly. It's because the timing has been

(04:48):
so great too, where it's the offseason.
She was born March 5th so. Now, were you guys intentional
about trying to? Very intentional.
Yes. We had like we took our delayed
honeymoon because we got marriedJuly 9th, so it was right before
training camp. So we weren't able to take a
proper honeymoon so we put it off.
I think it was just two years when we end up going over to

(05:10):
Europe for a little trip and we planned it out great and luckily
Blakely came out when she did. Where?
Where'd you go? We went to Austria, we Leo gang,
I think it was called Halstat, and then we went to the Amalfi
Coast in Italy. It was pretty nice.
How about the hardest part so far of fatherhood?

(05:31):
Time management, Danny and I just keep looking at each other
and we're like, what did we do before Blakely was here?
We don't understand how much time we had on our hands because
now you're constantly watching the baby monitor or you're
always having her in your hands,trying to help console her in
some sort of way. So there's been a lot of
challenges, but. So I was talking to your mom and

(05:52):
dad and I asked them that same question and they said the exact
same thing. They said.
It's interesting because both, you know, TJ and Danny, you
know, athletes used to having very structured days and now the
schedule changes 2030 times a day and there's literally
nothing they can do about it. Absolutely.

(06:13):
And that's where having a great partner, you know, helps in all
this and having Danny, because sometimes she's crying hard for
me and then I can just hand her off to Danny or vice versa.
And that's all it takes to get her to stop crying.
It's pretty crazy that way. And I have so much respect for
all the single parents out therebecause it it could be an
absolute grind. How long has it taken you to at

(06:33):
least feel like you're in some sort of rhythm with it, even if
you haven't fully adjusted? I'm getting into you because
you're getting ready. It's so funny.
I'd say probably like 2 weeks. I mean, I know it sounds like a
long time, but just because everything's so new.
Breastfeeding's new. Having a baby sleep in the same

(06:54):
room as you as a new wiping. And you guys knew you wanted to
have it sleep in the same room. We, yeah, I feel like for the
first, like before we had the night nurse, obviously for the
first couple of days of days of her life, you have her sleep in
the same room as you just so you, you don't want to trust a
baby monitor and you want to make sure that you wake up when
she wakes up and everything likethat.

(07:15):
Yeah, so you were starting to say before I interrupted.
Got in a routine, took a couple.Yeah, so it it, we got into a
nice route. We finally got into a nice
routine and I became the diaper guy where I would change the
diaper and then bring Blakely over to Danny's so she could
feed and then trying to wash anddo all wash all the parts and

(07:35):
everything like that as well as.Derek, your brother was telling
me. It's so funny because he tried
to have you change, I think. Yeah, I was getting.
Changed diapers. He's like, he was horrible.
So the notion that he's like, suddenly I lost my own kid.
That's why I said about being anuncle is it was the best.
I could just hang out. I could be the fun guy.
As soon as they cried, bam, here's mom and dad.

(07:56):
As soon as they need a diaper, here's mom and dad.
But once it's your own kid, it just, it's become so natural to
want to just assist and help anyway I can.
But yeah, we're going through a million diapers a day.
Because you're supposed to wait until like the blue lines are
like fully blue, like top to bottom.
So on a diaper, there's those blue lines.

(08:16):
If they're if they're blue lines, you have to change them.
I was changing whenever there was a little bit of blue 'cause
I wouldn't want to be hanging out with pee in my pants.
So I was changing as much as I possibly could for her.
What do you think having a kid has taught you?
It's giving me so much perspective on what's important.

(08:37):
It's showing me how much I love my wife.
It's showing me how selfish I can be at times and how selfless
I feel like I'm working towards now.
It's keeping me grounded. It's giving me purpose.
For the longest time I tell people I feel, I truly feel like
I was pro to start to play football and like be the best

(08:59):
football player I can be. And I mean, I can sit here now
and say that's absolutely not the case.
Like I'm meant to be a father and I'm meant to be a great
husband and a son and all those things.
And that's what's important to me.
And it's allowed me to take a back seat and say, holy cow,
I've got it all wrong. And yeah, man, it's, it's been

(09:20):
the best thing that's ever happened to me.
Challenging labor spent hour on the phone with Danny talking
about it yesterday. Give kind of, if you don't mind,
take me through from your vantage point, everything that
happened from the moment Labor. Do you want to start?
So my wife is a, is a, is a superhero really She had she was

(09:43):
due February 22nd and Blakely was born March 5th.
So she went over overdue and wasgetting super anxious about the
birth of Blakely and. Two days shy of 42 weeks.
Which is 1. They have to.
Which is like 2 1/2 weeks past normal due date.

(10:03):
Yeah, and we didn't know the gender either, so we were like
already super anxious to try to figure out like, is it a boy?
Is it a girl? You were convinced it was a boy?
I was convinced. Telling everybody I really was,
I really was. And Danny does so much research
on her own. She's trying to do the mile
circuit. There's all these different curb
walking. We're reading books on these

(10:25):
natural childbirthing ways and trying to do the best that we
can to when the situation comes,we're absolutely ready for the
moment. When the moment finally came or
we thought came was like 4 or five days before she actually
gave birth. She had, she was having Braxton
Hicks for a long time, but she was, she got like active labor

(10:46):
contractions where they were really intense and they were
like a minute apart for like probably like an hour or two.
And you're thinking what? So I'm thinking this is it like
it's like 9 or 10:00 at night? Like this has to be it.
We get Danny in the hot in the tub and she's just, I'm just
trying to help her be as comfortable as possible.

(11:06):
And then they kind of luckily that kind of slowed things down
and she was able to calm back down and the contraction slowly
subsided. So we're like, hold, that was
probably our window. We didn't know like what to feel
like you're going to see like is, was that our opportunity?
Like, did we miss the natural window?
And then a couple days later shegot a membrane sweep, which

(11:27):
sucks to be a part of. It sucks to see your wife go
through that. Which means what it's.
Painful for them where they go in and actually like sweep
around in there to try to separate the membrane or
whatever from her so that it allows the baby to hopefully
drop down lower to beep birth. And it's not a fun experience at

(11:48):
all for her or for me to see hergo through that.
And later that night at like 9:00, she started getting
contractions again. And then they had kept
intensifying as the night went on.
So then we called her doula, which I'm very thankful that we
had at the time. And we, I basically said like,
these contractions are differentthan what I've experienced.

(12:09):
They were kind of like last week, but these are a minute
apart. They're getting, they seem to be
getting more intense. And she's like, OK, we'll get
her in the tub, get her to calm down.
Actually, let me, let me rephrase this.
So they're getting so intense. Daniel laughed at this.
They're getting so intense, right?
And I'm like, she wakes up like 10:00, whatever.
By the time they get super intense because I'm like at like

(12:30):
8830 or 9. When they started, I was like,
well, they just say just try to sleep as much as you can and
rest because if it's going to happen, you want to be rested.
So she hits me like 930 or 10. She's like, they're getting
really intense. Call her doula and let her know
what's happening. So Danny is literally in the
bathroom, like leaning up on theon the counter.

(12:51):
And I'm like, OK, like, so call Lisa and tell her what she's
like. She's she's like telling me
everything to say. Tell her my contractions.
You know, I'm kind of freaking out.
Yeah, right. So I call Lisa, understandably.
So I call Lisa and I'm like, hey, Lisa, Danny's having
contractions. And Danny's like, what are you
doing? Tell her everything that's

(13:12):
happening. I'm like, hold on, Danny wants
to talk to you. Danny's like, no, you need to
tell her exactly what's happening.
Like, for whatever reason, the adrenaline kick that you get in
that moment, I like froze. And I couldn't like, articulate
what was actually going on in the moment.
But luckily I was able to gathermyself and tell her.
Which is funny for you, somebodywho's used to.

(13:34):
Pressure professional. Trust me, it is nothing like
playing football or playing in front of thousands of people.
But we're able to get her to thehospital.
This is probably like 3 in the morning now or four in the
morning. She was already super like into
labor. We got her up to the room and
she was like 4 or 5 centimeters dilated already.

(13:55):
She wanted to go, no pain meds, no nothing.
She labored for like two or three hours in and out of the
tub. And then she got up to like 7 or
8 and they're like, OK, Like thenurses started scrubbing up.
We thought it was about to happen.
She gets all the way to 9 and she's like, I can't, I can't

(14:18):
take the pain anymore. So I can't, I can't possibly
take this pain anymore. And I'm like, Danny, Are you
sure? Like, you need to let me know
Because multiple times before that, she's kind of had those
doubts. But in all your research, it
says, like when you have those doubts is when you're about to
breakthrough. And we've already done that like
3 or 4 times. So we finally got to 9.

(14:38):
She's like, I can't possibly take this pain anymore.
It's the worst pain I've ever been in.
Like please take the pain away. And I'm like, one more time.
You're 100% sure. Like I know you want natural,
but I like this is where I, it'smy call here.
So I'm like, she's like we said before, like vacation is the
word. And she's like, no, I, I need to
go on vacation. Like I, I, I want the pain to

(14:59):
stop. So we call this for an epidural
at that point. And she had a bad experience
with epidural in college. So it was pretty tricky.
She had double labrum surgery inher hips and she didn't have a
good experience with the with the epidural.
So she was really nervous to do that.
And I just remember she was at 9and she was getting contractions

(15:23):
like every 45 seconds to a minute.
And they are like, it's the mostintense thing you've ever seen.
Like she's looking through you like just almost out of body
experience. And I just remember holding her
as hard as I possibly could so she couldn't fall over while
they try to stick this needle inher back.
You know what I mean? And I'm like, I'm about to pass
out because I don't want to see the needle either.

(15:44):
But I'm trying to stay as strongas I can for her and do the
epidural. They have to get a successful
epidural and then they're like, all right, Danny, we'll let's
rest. So she gets, she was able to
rest for like another hour or two before we started pushing
again. But the crazy thing is, is when
she got the epidural, she couldn't feel really anything
down there. So she didn't, she couldn't

(16:05):
remember how to push, you know what I mean?
She couldn't remember how it felt because she didn't have any
feeling. So she we eventually got her to
try to push for like another hour or two.
I mean, it's a long day. And it got to the point where
the doctor said your baby's heart rate is plummeting.
Like we need to do an emergency C-section right now.
And. Like the the heart rate was

(16:26):
apparently below what it even isnormally for an emergency
C-section. It was it was super low and I
just remember saying, can you please leave the room?
I just need a minute like to talk to my wife because Daniel
was it was hard because she you picture something to go so
perfect and you plan for nine months.
You research and you do everything right.

(16:47):
You do the mile circuit, you have all the meetings here.
She's eating the right food. She's trying to do everything
possibly right for our baby and to have to not go the natural
route and go the epidural route was already kind of, I never
want to use the word failure or loss because it's not.
It's just kind of like a course alteration for her in that
moment. That was kind of hard for her to

(17:08):
absorb what she overcame that. And then it's like once she
started going again, it's like another thing happened.
So it was just a lot of emotionsat once and I knew it wasn't
exactly what she had wanted, so to be able to get the room
cleared and just have that conversation with her was
special. What did you say?

(17:30):
Just whatever you want to do, Danny, I'm completely with you.
Like cuz I do like there's otherpeople that say like you can
still have a vaginal birth through this.
Like you don't, their C-section should never be on the table.
I said like whatever your decision is here, I am
completely with you. But at the end of the day, we
need to do what's best for our baby and she broke down, she

(17:52):
said. I understand and I'm I'm crying
because I'm heard of the situation and I know what I have
to do and within. What what about that you telling
it even gets to you right now? Just see how intense it is, man.
It's so intense. The moment is just like, holy

(18:14):
crap, we're in 2025 and this is still like life or death.
It feels like in that moment, and I don't feel like it should
be that way, but obviously it is.
And within 10 minutes, my wife is wheeled out of the room and
she's going into emergency surgery.
And it's a major surgery. I mean people have died from
having C sections. She said she's being read her

(18:35):
rights as yeah. Exactly.
And it's it sucks, it really does.
And thankfully she was able to have a successful surgery and I
was able to be there with her behind the curtain.
I know you asked where I was. I was behind the curtain.
I didn't want to see, I didn't want to see that I was ready for

(18:55):
the for the, the vaginal part, but I wasn't ready for the
C-section part. And that was a success.
And to be able to to be able to see this human being that is
half of me, half of her is incredible.
And I always say it would have been so different if we were
just one in, had a plan C-section.
And, you know, I, I, I don't have anything against that, but

(19:18):
I think the experience that we went through is something that I
would never give back. And I know it's selfish for me
to say because I wasn't the one going through the pain, but it
gave me a whole new perspective about how much I love my wife
and how strong she is. In in that moment, even if you
didn't say it at the time, did you have even fleeting concerns

(19:44):
for her well-being? Absolutely.
I mean that's kind of that. I mean, that's.
The dilemma are you thinking, Ohmy gosh, she could die?
That's the dilemma is like, it'sso heavy because there's those
conversation like we never trulyhad the conversation like if I
had to choose you or if I had tochoose myself for the baby, for

(20:07):
her. And because we just, we wanted
to have positive energy the whole time and.
But you're aware that could be. Unlikely.
And then when you you're in the surgery room or whatever the
operating room and you're like, holy crap, there's like 8 or 9
people around. We're in a sterile environment.

(20:29):
Like this is a lot more serious than it ever could be.
And that's kind of where after she's born, those next couple
days are the ones where you really have to keep an eye on
your wife because of the blood clots and things of that nature.
So I think it was more so after Blakely was born that my my
concern shifted to make sure that Danny was OK.

(20:50):
And everything worked out. Everything worked out, man.
Here we are. And it's, it's the best.
It really is. It's it's awesome.
OK, so we were talking about this momentarily before the the
interview started, but you know,you obviously had great parents,
well documented, you and your brothers talk about it all the
time. One of the obvious differences

(21:12):
in the dynamic that your child or children are going to have
growing up is they're going to be very well off.
How do you figure out what the balance is between your success,
creating opportunities for them,and avoiding doing it in a way

(21:34):
that dampens motivation? It's the golden question, and
that's something that me and my brothers talk about all the
time, is how do you reap the benefits of all your hard work
without spoiling your kids or it's so much easier said than
done. Just be on a private jet and
say, well, we're here because I earned this and I worked hard.

(21:56):
Like it doesn't. Some of that doesn't translate
to a kid to make it make sense to them, But I think it's rooted
in values and what's important and surrounding yourself with
amazing people who keep you in check.
There are no yes men in our lives.
At least I don't like to think so.
And that's why it's important tocome back to Wisconsin and train

(22:16):
here and not go to turn my back on Brad and go to some big time
facility out in Arizona or or California.
Nothing against those places, but they don't have my best
interests like the people here do.
And I think that's important. It was funny, I was talking to
somebody the other day who had aton of success, was retired, had

(22:39):
kids a little later in in life and realized he needed to go
back to work. Not because he wasn't, not
because he was bored, but because he didn't want his kids
to see dad home when they left for school and dad home when
they came home from school. And so that's kind of
interesting when you think about, you know, post playing.

(23:01):
Well, that's that's the thing with school too.
Like Danny always gives me a hard time, but she got a degree
and I didn't. I'm like 17 credits short and a
big thing is like, how are you going to expect your kids to
want to go to school? Or how do you enforce your kids
to go to school to get a degree if you don't have your own?
And I'm not ready to go back. To.
Jail. I'm not ready to go back to
school anytime soon, if at all. So, but I do see that like it's

(23:24):
all through example it's it's easy to say something to a kid,
but they're more likely to emulate if they see you do it.
What do you think you learned from your mom and dad about
parenting? Love.
Sacrifice, trying to be the bestthat you can be for your kids
and being present. My parents were always present.

(23:45):
My dad was a firefighter. My mom was high up at her
company Independent Inspections for a long time and.
Started as a secretary I. Think and they had busy lives
they they could have easily saidwe have our friends we want to
hang out with our friends and have their date nights and not

(24:05):
always have time for us or have us have babysitters and they
didn't they truly immersed themselves in our lives and made
sure that we had everything thatwe could possibly need.
We grew up playing hockey, whichis an expensive sport.
It's a tough sport for a family,especially with three boys who
hockey, you have to travel all the time, so you're constantly

(24:26):
getting pulled apart each and every direction.
And they just always made it work.
They always found a way to make it work for us and instill in us
that hard work works and it getsrewarded and to always do the
right thing and that gets rewarded.
And my mom probably told you it was always important when my dad

(24:47):
was home on nights that he was home from the Firehouse, that
we'd always get together and have family dinners whenever we
possibly could to just have thattime together because time gets
lost. It really does.
And I'm learning that more as I grow up.
It it goes by so fast that it's important to remember and have
those conversations with your family at the end of the day.

(25:07):
How would you explain the role they play in your life today?
That's a good question. Besides just being grandparents,
I think we're evolving into becoming, I don't like more so
friends and having enjoying eachother's company and not always
having that parent mentality. Words do this or do that.

(25:28):
Or if I want to ask for advice in something, I'm going to go
ask him for advice. It's not overbearing where
they're always trying to give advice or always trying to
parent. I think that's something.
Was that a tough shift? I, I think for a little bit it
was when being completely candidwith you, I think it's.
How could you get through that period?

(25:48):
I think it's understanding theirside and understanding that it's
as parents, especially of three,three kids who have made it to
the NFL and had a had a lot of great success.
It's hard to like as a parent, go through life where you're so
involved all the time. And then when you grow up and

(26:09):
get married and have your own family, to have to close that
chapter. And I think obviously I'm not
speaking from experience, but like you get that empty nest
chapter of your life where that can be complicated.
And then you kind of get the where they get married and then
have kids. And it's, it's sad because there
is a separation there where you're not spending as much
quality time as you once were. But that's why it's important to

(26:31):
have the time that you do spend as quality as possible.
Did I read you? You get you and your mom
FaceTime like every day. We FaceTime a lot of time.
We do, we, we stay connected, wereally do.
And my dad. You culture like your best
friend my. #1 customer, yeah, mymom, because there was a lot of
time where in high school, I mean, my dad was like I said, it

(26:52):
was a fight for he'd work 4872 hour shift sometimes or it was
just my mom and I while Derek was at school.
When JJ was in the NFL, we wouldjust spend a lot of quality time
together. What do you think she taught
you? It's.
A good question, man. My mom is so dedicated to like I
said, working up from her company and she's so she's very
strict, very stern. She says what she wants.

(27:14):
She's. Like how so?
Like, I'm very like, are you saying strict?
Like we would have to do book reports in the summers?
She's very defensive of her family.
People don't mess with Connie Watt.
They know that anybody that knows her knows that she's very
proud of her family and what she's built.
And she should be. She's a damn good mom and she's

(27:36):
a damn good grandma and. She mentioned she remembers
getting up at 4:35 AM. With you some flash cards, yeah.
So like, I think it was like probably like 6th or 7th grade,
I was a terrible student. I'll admit that I'm a terrible
student. I had like a exam on all the
bones in the body or something the next day and I freaking, I

(27:59):
couldn't get it for the life of me.
So she's like TJ, we're going towake up at 4:30 tomorrow
morning. Like we're going to go over all
these flash cards we can and we're going to get it.
And I think I, I think I ended up passing, but it's just like
one of those things where she wasn't going to let me fail.
Like my parents, whether they knew I was going to be great at

(28:19):
football or whatever, they just,they wanted to give me as much
of an opportunity to be successful in whatever it was
that I chose to do. And I don't think they could
have lived with not giving it everything they possibly could.
And I think that's kind of wherethat came from.
What do you think your dad taught you?
Working hard for sure. I think my dad, they both.

(28:40):
Kind of had their own areas, right?
Like mom was more academic, dad was more, yes, athletic.
Yes, yeah, yes, my, my dad. So here's a little story about
my dad. Like to get a picture very hard
on us athletically. That's.
What's an example of how he was hardest?
Yeah. So I mean, I'll just give you an

(29:01):
example. When we were young, like you, do
you know what presidential physical fitness testing is like
in school, like flexed arm hang,reach and hold, mile run,
shuttle run, stuff like that. We would in the summers and like
we, I think we, I don't even know if we still have the school
records or what, but like in thesummers we would go up to the
school and we'd run a mile. Like this was like once a week

(29:24):
or a couple times a week. We would every night before
dinner, we'd have to do like 30 pull ups, sit up, stuff like
that just to instill working hard.
And I, I always tell the story too of at next level you see
that glass partition there, right?
Like the waiting room when my dad used to always come and

(29:44):
watch in the waiting room and there used to be a dumbbell rack
right in front of him. This was when I was first going
there 7th or 8th grade. And I would go to grab like 30s,
you know, like first set and thenext set I'd go to grab the 30s
again. And he'd be like, and he'd be
like, like, go up. Like we don't do the same.

(30:05):
We don't do the same thing both times.
Like you're here to get better. So like, and then you get home
and he'd be like, I'm paying foryou to do this.
Like you don't, if you don't want to do it, don't do it.
But I'm paying for you to do it.If you want to be successful,
this is XY and ZY, you have to do it.
And things like that rubbed off of me quickly.
I mean, Derek and JJ, when they were in high school, they went

(30:26):
to morning lifting. So you'd go to school at 6:00 in
the morning before school started and you'd work out with
the football team. But I wasn't old enough to do
that when I was in 7th grade andit was only high schoolers.
So I asked my parents if we could go to Snap Fitness when
Derek would go work out at the high school.
So for I don't know how long it lasts, I think it was probably
two or three weeks, but my parents would wake up with me at

(30:48):
5:30 in the morning. We'd go over to Snap Fitness at
six, I'd work out with them and come back home, eat breakfast
and go to school. It was pretty cool.
It wasn't. It was never told no if I wanted
to work hard. It was just one of those things
where I was always trying to instill working, working,
working. What did the short chart until?
Cutting the lawn so like we would split the lawn in the

(31:10):
thirds to make sense for obviously Derek, JD and me.
And we would fight over who cut the side of the house because
the side of the house was the shortest to like the shortest
amount. And one day, Derek and I, it was
just Derek and I, we were home. JD was already off of college.
Our neighbor, we didn't like him.
He, he, he threatened to take our dog's voice box out because

(31:33):
we had a Beagle at the time whenhe barked a lot.
But one day we're out there mowing the lawn and he's like,
oh, I'll, I'll mow the side of your house for you.
Like, no problem. Like, oh, we're turning the
page. Like this guy's awesome.
Like, yeah, no problem. He goes out there and like 10
minutes in, we hear like a Big Bang, bang, bang.
And he's, he's like, he's out there looking underneath his

(31:54):
underneath his lawnmower. Well, Derek and I didn't pick up
the sticks. So he like broke his lawnmower.
And it was like the one time we could have impressed the
neighbor. And from that point on, we were,
we never talked to him again. And we were stuck cutting the
full side of the yard. What is the deal with the two
dinners daily? Yeah, 5:00 and then 8:00 we wake
up to A5 egg omelet every morning.

(32:15):
I mean, you'd always have a Fullbreakfast, either omelet or
pancakes or muffins or somethingfresh.
And then they would send us to school with two peanut butter
and Jelly sandwiches. One you'd eat before lunch, one
you'd eat after lunch. And.
Then you would have two lunches you'd pay for. 2 double lunches,
double lunch at school, Yeah. Which I didn't even know that

(32:37):
was a thing. Yeah, double lunch.
So you have chicken Patty, you just get 2 of them, obviously.
And then after school you come home at like from Next Level or
track practice and you'd eat dinner at 5:00 and that'd be
like a spaghetti with garlic bread or something.
And then at like what, 7:30 or 8:00, my dad would make like

(32:58):
salami sandwiches. Or whether it's that or he, my
dad always wanted to recreate things.
So if like I went to Noodles andCompany and I loved the Japanese
pan noodles, he'd be like, I canmake the Japanese pan noodles.
So then like that'd be like something never the same, but I
give him a lot of credit, you know, like we were into the
chicken bacon ranch at Subway. He thought he could make it
exactly the same it it never quite hit the same.

(33:20):
Give context to their insane travel schedule your parents as
you got later in schooling. It got crazy, it really did,
because I was a junior and senior when JD was really
starting to blow up. So what was that?
20? Yeah, 20/11/2012.
They told me yesterday on the phone that you kind of like

(33:41):
genuinely junior and senior yearkind of felt abandoned.
Yeah, it it really. It genuinely was difficult to
deal with at the time and I don't think I knew how to handle
those emotions at the time and Ithink.
How? How did it come out in you?
It's just, I think I suppressed it, I really do.
And I think it was I was just kept being left with my grandpa

(34:02):
or I was just kind of like, I felt like I was left with
whoever was in town to be able to watch me.
And I don't, now that I'm old enough to understand why.
It makes a lot more sense to me.And I never really resented my
parents for it, but it was definitely a tough time in my
life. How do you think at the time it
affected you it? Made me resent my brother in a

(34:23):
weird way. Yeah.
Which I never really wanted to feel.
And I I would use it as a crutchat times where I'd say I'm not
JJ or I'm not Derek, you know what I mean?
And that obviously isn't the wayto handle it either.
But the older I get, the more I can reflect on it and understand

(34:45):
my parents side of it. And if they weren't trained on
how to be an NFL parent of a defensive player of the year and
go to Pro Bowls in Hawaii and doall these amazing things and
they were trying to navigate those waters too.
So I don't hold that against them, but it was definitely a

(35:05):
tough part of my life where it felt like I would come home and
that there wouldn't be anyone home or they would just be me
and my grandpa. And I love time with my grandpa,
but it just. Wasn't he?
He was the biggest fan. Yeah, he was, but it just wasn't
the family dynamic that I grew up knowing.
Even if it was for unhealthy reasons, to what extent do you

(35:25):
think that played into kind of underlying additional drive that
you develop? Definitely.
I mean, I think I still deal this day of wanting attention of
some sort in wanting to be as successful as possible to feel
that in not saying that you haveto do that to feel love for my

(35:46):
parents, that's not the case. But it definitely drove me to
want to feel, to want to be an NFL player, to want to have my
parents want to come and watch me play and be a part of what my
story has in in store. So you finally make the AAA team
in hockey? Yeah, and they pulled the rug

(36:07):
out from under me. What happens?
I loved hockey, I really did, I find.
Your first love for Maybe you'rethe sport you're you most love.
I love, I loved hockey. I still to this day love hockey
and. You want to play in possibly
early when. You're there.
I think Bealey would be the mostfun to do after I'm done
playing. But yeah, I finally made AAA and

(36:29):
like I said before, it was just so it was just such a tough
sport to have three boys to especially at that, because
there's you're at different levels and you're getting pulled
different directions. And by the time I made, I even
got like my breezers. I think I got the jersey and
everything. And then the kid came and
knocked on the freaking door andit was like my, I'm like, I have
to hand over my Breezers and my jersey to this kid and I'm just

(36:51):
like, whatever, man, that that was like one of those things are
I'm really jealous that Jade andDerek got to experience AAA
hockey and Jade, they got to travel to Germany with my
grandpa, my dad, and have those stories.
And I felt shorted in that aspect but.
I I have been told that that specifically still gets to you a

(37:12):
little bit to this day. That I didn't get to do that,
yeah. Because it's like I felt like I
was pretty damn good at hockey. And obviously Jade and Derek
really good too, but. You think you could have gone
pro in hockey? We'll never know and that's,
that's part of it, you know, is but hindsight again, it is a
tough, it's an expensive sport. It's tough.

(37:33):
And I I mean it worked out well so I can't be too upset.
What do you remember from your parents living with you and
Derek for a month at Madison I? Honestly haven't thought about
that in a long time. That's another example of my
parents and just the people thatthey are and the parents that
they are is I had my knee surgery, Derek had his foot

(37:54):
surgery around the same time. So they moved into the hotel on
campus and they would drive us to and from class to and from PT
appointments to everything. And back to the food.
Thing is, I just remember I'd leave class, come out, the car
would pull up, I'd sit in the back and there would be a deli
sandwich there and a drink already.
It's like just so thoughtful always like putting us first and

(38:17):
trying to do everything they possibly can to help us because
other other kids don't have thatopportunity to have their
parents just come out. And that's thanks to JJ again
for allowing my parents to retire when they did.
So they could help us in that moment.
But to be able to have your parents to lean on at a time
where I was in a very low point of my life, going through

(38:37):
surgeries and position changes and all that, to be able to have
that normalcy and have family dinners, even if it was in a
hotel room, was special. Your mom cried yesterday when
she was talking to me on the phone about that period you went
through then. Yeah.

(38:58):
I mean, you don't play a snap for like 3 years.
Take me back to kind of that time and what's going through
your head. Yeah, so my freshman year at
Wisconsin was great. I was a tight end.
I was scout team. I had like scout team player of
the week a lot like it was. We had a lot of fun.
I enjoyed it. And I thought it was important

(39:20):
for me to go up against other 2022 year olds, grown men in
football. And I thought it was important
for me to red shirt that year and get my confidence.
And then like December came around and bowl prep, you do a
lot of inner mirror, inner league stuff where it's against
your own guys and we're doing like a drill.
And I dislocated my kneecap and it was just one of those things

(39:43):
where it swelled up at the time.And they just said just let it
rest and you'll, you can come back in the spring and you'll be
fine. Came back in the spring and like
the second or third practice hadhappened to my left knee.
So it's like, OK, well I rehab my right.
It worked sometimes my left. So let's just rehab that.
I'll come back in the fall. Came back in the fall and it
happened again to my right like 2 practices in.

(40:06):
So then. I was like, all right, I'm not
going to continue to do this. Clearly something's wrong.
So that's where, again, thanks to JJ down in Houston, Walt Low,
the team doctor was able to get me in and get surgery on my
knee. And that was when they were
playing LSU in the bowl game, Wisconsin.
So like I got surgery that week and was a dumb ass and like

(40:30):
tried to be cool and like go to like the pep rally and all this
stuff and like 3 days after surgery and I'm on pain meds and
I'm like trying to like walk on it like stupid.
And it took me like a lot longerto recover the first time
around. I was like 4 or five months and
then I came back in spring ball and that happened to my left
knee. It's like same exact thing.

(40:51):
So it's like all right, I'm not wasting any more time, fly back
down, get to surgery. And that was cool too, because I
got to spend quality time with my brother who I admired and
didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with in his adulthood
yet. And to be able to see the house.
And every time I go to visit JJI, take a picture and video of
his house, 'cause he's been in different houses, he's been in

(41:13):
like 8 different houses, but like 'cause he always lives in
the coolest houses and I always use his motivation.
Like I probably have like 6 videos on my phone just like in
the outside of his house. And it's just like wow, like
hard work works. Like you're doing so great for
yourself and like I see the blueprint, I see everything
behind like I know why you have this great stuff and I want it

(41:34):
too. And it was great to be able to
spend that time with him and then came back up after having
the surgery was way more more smart about it had a purpose.
I said this is the last time that I'm going to go through
this surgery and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but I'm
going to put all my chips in themiddle of the table and give it

(41:55):
everything I have. And I think I it only took like
3 months, maybe four months topsto recover from it.
But you thought if it didn't work, that was probably him.
What was the like worst of the headspace you were in?
So I did the first time and I was like, I was very distraught.
Called my dad, told him everything.

(42:15):
And then when I got to surgery, I was back on a high.
I thought I was going to be great, was going to go in a
spring ball, going to kill it asa tight end, had all these great
plans. And then he'll tell you I called
him like a second or third practice, like in the middle of
practice, like he knew exactly what happened because he knew
what time our practice was. And it was like half hour hour
into practice just kind of brokedown and I was like, I have no

(42:39):
idea why this keeps happening tome.
I have feel like I've done everything right.
I've trained hard. I want it.
I've I'm trying to be as proactive as possible as Brad
and get my body right. I'm studying the playbook.
I feel like I'm, I have potential to, to do some damage
on this team, like be an asset and this keeps happening to me.

(43:02):
And he's just like I, I don't have the answer for you, son.
Like I just want you to know we're, we're fully support you
and we want what's best for you and you take the lead.
And I said, well, I want to get surgery one more time on this
side and then we'll go from there.
And that's where like watch Derrick Rose video as I watch
Adrian Peterson videos in my dorm room and or my apartment.

(43:24):
All those are huge. Like how so?
I think that's why it's important to do stuff like this
too, is so like you never know what someone's going through or
where someone can find motivation.
And to be able to see guys that went through knee, severe knee
injuries and were able to come back and play at a high level,
like at the time, that's all I needed to see.
I need to see someone go throughit and do it, come out on the

(43:47):
other side, and that was very important for me and just gave
me the energy to be able to get up off the couch and start
rehabbing and stop being so pitiful towards myself.
Were you depressed at the time? Yeah, because I couldn't, I
couldn't go out like my buddies would want to go out like
Mifflin, like the big party. I couldn't do that.
I, I couldn't, I like couldn't be a college kid at the time,

(44:09):
which is I think looking back was good for me because I think
my freshman year I kind of livedup college a little too much.
I don't think I was as focused as I should have been as.
Which is funny because you read the articles on video and it's
all like, oh it doesn't. Go out.
I had fun. But like, I mean like I you,
you. Looking back, you feel like you
had a little more fun than you probably.
Then like, but I was 18, you know what I mean at the time.

(44:30):
And I think that really that pushing all the chips into one
into the center of the table really centered me and said, all
right, I'm done. Like messing around.
Like I'm I'm going to do everything that I possibly can
to make it to the NFL. And I mean I can show you in my
notebook upstairs like. What did you write there?

(44:50):
I'm going to make it to the NFL.I think it was like 2016 or like
I will be in the NFL and like I think the self belief as I grew
in change positions and was like, I have two brothers that
grew up the same way that I did,ate the same meals that I did,
didn't are willing to share all their secrets with me about how

(45:11):
to be successful. Like why can't I do it?
And that's when things switched.I stopped presenting my brother.
I was like, I'm going to use himas much as I possibly can.
I moved in with Derek. That was awesome to be able to
live with him for a year in college because we butted head
so much, but to be able to live with him.
And didn't you guys used to likebeat the?

(45:31):
I used to beat the crap out of each other and over video games
anything, and that still comes out now from time to time.
But living together gives you a whole new perspective and
appreciation for your brother. It was pretty cool.
You talked about JJ and like stopping, you know, resenting
him. Tell about the time you guys

(45:51):
watched film. Together which?
I think was, at least up until that point, was the only time
that ever happened. Yeah, So 2016 I switched
positions and then I think he probably, I can't remember what
year he came up, but he came up and we watched film together for
the first time, which was reallycool.
I think he had his back injury at the time.

(46:13):
So he wasn't down in Houston. He was up here rehabbing and he
came up to Madison and just wanted to rent a or get a film
room. And we just watched film
together. And I was, this is the coolest
thing in the world. Like he wants to, he wants to
watch film with me. Like let's go.
Like I've only watched him on YouTube because I don't have
access to the NFL stuff, you know what I mean?
So to be able to sit down with him, have him pick apart my game

(46:37):
and help me out, I mean, you've seen what it's done for me.
It's been incredible. I ain't the first.
Like, it's crazy to watch an NFLguy breakdown film when you
haven't been in that space. Because in college you're kind
of just playing like you don't have time to break down every
little stance, whether it's run,pass, what plays could be

(46:58):
coming. And like, I just remember like
we turn on one player and he's like, dude, you're like a yard
and a half offline scrimmage. Like what are you doing?
I'm like, I don't know, like it's just where I line up.
And he's like that yard and a half could be 1/2 a second or a
quarter second, like take the whole ball.
So then that's one of those things that stuck with me ever
since. And even today, like I'm known

(47:18):
for having like one of the credit card alignment, like the
tightest alignment on the football in the NFL because of
that. Like every little thing matters,
and once I started looking at college like an NFL player, it
took my game to the next level. It's kind of crazy that you had
that kind of reaction to having the opportunity to watch film
with him, because I'm thinking, as you're telling me, like, this

(47:40):
is your brother, I would think. People all the time are like,
oh, you watch film all the time?Like no, like we are normal
people too like. When there was enough of an age
gap, six years so. We're like, yeah, like Jay is,
he's a goofy guy. He's just, we're all, we're all
goofballs. And I just remember like, even
when he was like 1718 and he would always just try to cheer

(48:03):
us up and play funny songs in his car and we'd have, we just
have a blast, man. He's, he's so supportive of us.
He really is. And like I said, he paved the
way for us, and for him to be able to continue to want success
for us has been awesome. And now?
But I understand. Multiple people mentioned to me
you're like living on your iPad after a game.

(48:23):
Yeah, like almost. Instantly too much, yeah.
And they explain what you're doing.
I'm obsessed with just trying tofigure out how to be better and
find ways of, OK, I did this or I tried this.
Why did it work or why didn't itwork?
And there's always going to be aconstant chase for greatness and

(48:43):
being the best that I can possibly be.
And knowing that I have a finiteamount of time to play football
and to do what I love for a living and to do it at a high
level. So why not take everything that
I possibly can to maximize that opportunity?
And the iPad is one of those things that I'm trying to find.
I mean, run pass formational things or just passers moves

(49:05):
that I'm trying that don't necessarily work, but at least
I'm always trying to evolve. If you come and watch us in
training camp, I don't win a lotof reps, but I'm trying a lot of
new stuff to see what works likea like a spin move or like a the
Neil Hunter has this really coolmovie plays for the Texans now
where it's like a it's like a chop and like a pull through.

(49:28):
But he's like the only guy that I've seen that can possibly get
this move done. And we've just been toying with
it for like 2 years trying to doit.
And I, I, I kind of have it downin practice, but the footwork is
a little different. But for him it works and it's
his great move. But I'm trying to take it from
him or at least implement it into my own game.
But it's one of those things that is a lot tougher to do than

(49:49):
actually just see. I'm feeling like all that look,
he made that look so easy. How do I do it?
Also then when you're watching the film, what specifically will
you dissect and look for? Where is the wasted movement?
You know it like does my passwords in the first quarter
look like it does in the fourth quarter?
And why doesn't it? Like how much of a factor does
fatigue play into it? Am I getting lazy or is it just

(50:12):
because I'm tired? Or why are things working out in
the fourth quarter that weren't in the first quarter?
And I think a lot of it is pass versus like a game of chess.
And, and I've watched the iPad in Game 2 because if I do this,
his reaction is this. So now if I do this and he still
does that, it's going to be a win.
And it's just constantly going back and forth battle of like

(50:35):
trying to figure out what he's going to do, but also realizing
he's a person too. And he's also has that internal
battle. Money.
I remember when I was talking toJJ, he told me after he signed
his $100 million deal, he right,he went on Google and he googled
what do what, what do rich people buy or something like

(50:57):
that. So you're making, you know, a
couple 1,000,000 bucks a year and then all of a sudden you get
your similar size deal. Like how does that change
things? You hope it doesn't, honestly,
it changes things in the sense that financial freedom is to do

(51:17):
whatever we want and to be able to have nice things or to take
great vacations. And but you don't want it to
define who you are and to overpower who the person is.
And I think that comes back to having great support system,
having great people around me. And Danny and I are very frugal.
JJ laughs at us all the time. How?

(51:39):
I mean, we're like in perspective, frugal, obviously
we live a great life, but I havea hard time.
JJ is always like, dude, like live it up a little bit.
And I'm, I'm learning to to indulge more and spend a little
bit more for vacations and things that are meaningful to me
because that's what we work so hard for.
But it's hard to break out of that where it's like they want

(52:01):
how much for a private chef likethis ridiculous.
Like I would rather not. And it's like it's hard to find
that balance. What are things that he gets on
you for? This is two years ago, we went
on a trip for bye week and like we just had a good game against
the Ravens, had like 2 sacks, whatever.
And then we flew down to Palm Beach for vacation for the rest

(52:25):
of the bye week and we took Southwest and we like got I got
stuck in the middle seat and Jade is like, dude, what are you
doing? He's like, you just sacked Lamar
Jackson twice yesterday and now he was sitting in like 34 B.
He's like, he's like, spend the money, bro.
Like what else do you like? What are you waiting for?
And like those are moments wherethey're OK.
Like I guess you're kind of right there.
It doesn't make sense. Like especially timing wise.

(52:48):
It's all about how you spend your time and things like that.
But I mean, there we really don't have, I don't have a
passion for cars. I don't we have a nice house.
Like we don't need much else. It's kind of hard to figure out.
Like I don't want to just go blow money just to blow.
Money and deep down, are you concerned that if you spend

(53:08):
beyond what you're used to that some of the that could cause you
to take your eye off the prize sort of speak?
Yeah, and it's like when is it enough?
Like if you, if you, if I could have signed up for my rookie
contract when I was a kid, I would have been like, I would
have signed me up right away. Like, why?

(53:30):
It's such an interesting conversation to have because I
would be so happy with what I have right now if you asked me
10 years ago. But why do I continue to want
more? But for me, it's the continual
chase of football that provides the wealth for me.
I'm not chasing the wealth. I'm chasing the greatness of
football. And that's the benefit that you
get from it. I know it's probably a bit of a

(53:50):
sensitive subject matter becauseof the contract currently, but
it it's probably less about the overall dollar figure and more
about getting paid consistent with your ability in town.
You know, it doesn't matter if it's a a a dollar or a bazillion

(54:16):
dollars. Yes, it it comes down to the
market value and I don't dictatethe market value.
No player dictates the market value.
But when the market value is a certain number, it's kind of
like all things point to that, like I didn't ask for that.
But when you're in a certain category, that is just kind of
what's done at that point. And that's where things get
tricky because at the end of theday, I'm just playing football

(54:39):
to the best that I possibly can in the business side of it
obviously always creeps its headinto the window.
And it's like, at what point do you you've earned and deserved a
certain number or a certain thing you're looking for in a
contract and the market says that.
So where do we? Where do we stand?
What's your perspective on wherethat stands now relative to you?

(55:06):
In what situation like? Like we just, what's your view
on it currently? The current, the current
contract, you're saying? Yeah, I mean just like your
situation currently. I think it's allowed me to take
a step back and enjoy being herewith my family and spending time
with Danny and Blakely and my family and friends that are here

(55:28):
and kind of remove myself from being so football focused all
the time. And I think it's also allowed me
to stand for what I feel I'm worth and to under and to know
what I'm worth and to have people in my corner that also
are fighting for me. And I don't want to say fighting

(55:50):
for me like I'm going through something, but to understand.
Any player needs their advocate because yeah, I mean outside of
you, you need somebody to look after your own.
Yeah, and it's that's what's awesome to have JJ and Derek who
have gone through those contractual conversations before
as well. And that's why it's important to

(56:10):
have good agents who have your best interests.
And it's tricky. That's why it's hard to talk
about it. It, it's, there's so many
different layers to these contracts, but it all comes back
to the market value like we talked about.
I mean, the timing almost works out well though with having a
newborn, right? I mean, if it if it was ever
going to happen, it. Does.

(56:31):
And it's one of those things that it's it's going to get
handled one way or another. It's champagne problems at the
end of the day. I understand.
What's your reaction when you read the stories about, you
know, just yesterday there's onecoming out about teams possibly
contemplating making trade offers for you.
Yeah. That's one of those things where

(56:52):
the more you remove yourself, the better mental space you're
going to be in. If I sit there and I read it
every single day and I'm textingmy agents every single day about
every little thing that's going on in the medium, it's going to
be removing me from being present in the moment.
And that's why it's been important, like we talked about
before, to remove myself from social media and just be present

(57:12):
and not look back on these yearsand say I wish I would have been
a better father, a better husband, a better friend.
Because I was so self consumed in this contract situation when
I know it's going to get handledone way or another.
You think there's any chance at the start of the 2025 season you
aren't a Steeler? That's a great question.

(57:34):
We'll have to wait and see. I mean, what's it?
It's not an impossibility that you could be.
I would love to be a Pittsburgh Steeler.
I really would. I've I've enjoyed my time 8 hard
years. They've they believed in me to
draft me and to give me a secondcontract and to change my life
forever. And I no doubt want to be there.

(57:56):
But it all comes back to how thecontract negotiations go and
that's it's very complex. What happens in a perfect world?
If you got me there. Oh, come on.
I mean in your perfect world. In a perfect world, I'll give
you a good answer. In a perfect world, I want

(58:17):
what's best for my family. And I don't know what that is.
What because it's it comes back to at what point is the market
value and at what point is what's best for your family,
what's best for everybody involved.
And I think at the end of the day, whatever decision is made
from the Steelers or from me, I think it'll be the best for

(58:40):
everybody. What's your gut tell you in
terms of what happens? My gut tells me to wait,
honestly, my gut, my gut tells me to wait and, and see how
things play out and to let my agents do their job and to let
the upper management and ownership in Pittsburgh sorted
out with my agents and. You start to feel disrespected.
I mean, I don't know, disrespectis is a is a very strong word.

(59:04):
I think it's important to prioritize your players that
have done things successfully ata high level for your
organization. And not to say I don't feel
prioritized necessarily, but I there there is frustration at
times that a deal hasn't been done to this point.
Your brother Derek retired at 31.

(59:28):
JJ retired at 33. Obviously six years younger than
JJ, but you're kind of the last brother standing.
How has their retirement impacted things for you?
It's been cool to see cuz they're polar opposites in the

(59:50):
best ways. I mean JD has gone into
broadcasting. He's kind of.
He still does the commercials and is staying in the light of a
good amount and also balancing family.
To the best of his ability and Ithink he's a great father and a
great husband as well and it's so cool to see him be a dad.
I think Cola looks so much like him and I'm going to meet Nico

(01:00:13):
here soon. And Derek has gone the other
route where also is a phenomenalhusband and and dad to his kids
and there to the Asian hour there and t-ball and golf and
stuff. So he's very involved in that
and he does a lot of golf himself, but he stays working
out. But he doesn't necessarily work

(01:00:34):
other than that right now. How has it impacted your view of
how long you play? I don't know if it's really
affected how long I want to play, I think.
Even if subconsciously you're looking at now what they're
doing, it's. One of those things where it
it's nice, like it's nice to seethat lifestyle now, but I always

(01:00:56):
get the itch about this time to go back and go back to work.
And I never really asked them like where their mindsets at in
August or September when things are really picking up football
wise and. Although now does that make it
weird for you right now because you know, you're similar to with
the kid where the schedule's changing 2030 times a day when

(01:01:16):
you know you're in this kind of weird period, you know, cut the
contract wise and you don't havea definitive clarity and what?
It's it's, it's difficult definitely.
And it it can add stress to justa situation.
The unknown is always stressful at times, but that's why it just
comes back to handling my business and working out and

(01:01:37):
keeping the routine as much routine as I possibly can so
that when the time comes to playfootball, I'm ready.
You look at like Aaron Donald to32 years old, one of the best
players you know in the league, and then he's done.
What do you think about when youI think?
It's, I think it's really special when guys can retire

(01:01:58):
when they're playing at a high level.
You never want to be that guy that's just hanging on by a
thread. And that was important for JJ.
And I think it was cool to see him and he had 12 sacks or
something. He was going off at the end like
those last couple weeks of his career.
And he told me he's like, once you have, once you have your
first child, it, it almost freesyou up mentally because you're

(01:02:20):
not always watching film. You're not always so like locked
in and like anal over watching film every single night of like,
I need to be doing this, I need to be doing that, or I need to
watch my hour of film. I need to get this massage at
this time. I need to be doing.
It's like at some point relax and just understand that you've
put in so much work to get to this point and you're still
working hard. It's not like you're not working

(01:02:41):
as hard just because you have a baby.
It just gives you more perspective mentally or you're
in a much better space. You're not constantly racking
your mind over that. Passers wrapped in the third
quarter. What's funny is we a number of
years back went to the UK and filmed an episode with Lewis
Hamilton, who has a notable social life outside of work.
And he said he found when he started doing that, it actually

(01:03:05):
allowed him to have more successin his career because he could
take the the mental break. In terms of yeah, for the
longest time you like if we're on vacation, you could ask, you
know, I'd be like on my mind is like thinking about football
right now and it's like it it shouldn't be that way.
You. Should be enjoy the fruits of
your. Labor and.

(01:03:26):
Well deserved and hard earned time off.
And when it's time to lock in, you lock in.
There's no question about what the mission is or like being
able to lock in the moment. But it's also being able to flip
the switch off when I'm off the field has been a benefit to me
for. Sure.
How do you feel about turning 30?
I'm 30, I'm turning 30. One, I mean 31, yes, now being
being 30, sorry. Yeah.

(01:03:47):
I I don't feel older. I don't feel like I'm 30.
I don't feel like I'm turning 31.
I understand the football world.Everybody says you're getting up
there. Whatever.
I think my brother JD told me a long time ago that I don't know
if it's true or anything, but he's like, your athletic prime
is between 28 and 32. And I'm like, well, I'm still in
the window so I'm cool. How about your view of Bruce

(01:04:09):
Smith's record? 200, right?
I think the chase for all the individuals, I think the chase
for all the individual stuff is is behind me.
Honestly. I can honestly tell you that
because there wasn't the case for the first, a bunch of years
in the NFL is trying to be more than just JJ Watt's younger

(01:04:34):
brother and try to pave my own path.
And then once you win a defensive player of the year and
have individual success, I want team success more than anything.
Not to say I didn't before, but it was definitely more like I
want to prove myself as a playerin the NFL.
And now it's those things come like I'm not writing in my goal

(01:04:56):
book, XY and Z. I'm writing my goal would be the
best teammate I can possibly be.How can I help my team win a
Super Bowl? Like, what does that look like?
And all of those other accoladesand stats follow.
I mean, can't possibly play harder than I play.
Like I'm playing as hard as I possibly can and doing
everything that I possibly can to benefit my team.

(01:05:20):
And sacking the quarterback obviously benefits my team.
So those things take care of themselves.
What do you think you sacrificed?
Take it to where you are. A lot of quality time with
quality people, but I also thinkit's it's made my circle a lot
smaller, especially in the last five to six years of you get

(01:05:45):
spread so thin when you come back home for the offseason that
you want to see everybody and you realize growing apart from
some people isn't always the worst thing.
There's no bad intent to it, butit's just life.
But the people that are really important that stick around are
the people that you want to makesure you take care of and take
time to be able to see them and spend quality time with them.

(01:06:07):
Because the reality is people grow in different directions,
and you weren't the same person today that you were a couple
decades ago when you and this person were buddies.
And Dane and I talk about that all the time, but being able to
have those people to not sacrifice that at the end of the
day is important to me. But I mean, probably social life

(01:06:31):
would definitely sacrifice that.I mean, in Pittsburgh when I was
when we were doing distance, Danny and I, I would just come
home from work and I would watchYouTube videos of Pass Rush and
I'd watch film and I'd go to bed.
Like it was like it wasn't. I don't think that's a healthy
way to live, especially as a 2224 year old kid who's in the

(01:06:55):
NFL. But that was, I was just so
obsessed with how can I get better?
How can I get better football, football, football that I really
didn't want to do anything else.How do you get in your own head?
Trying to. Like, you know, negatively.
Like how will you screw? Your I think like just like as
an example from today, like Bradand I have been training for so

(01:07:17):
long, but like last week everybody just came back from
mandatory. So before that it was just me
and him for like a month. It was awesome.
But they can also be a detrimentbecause when it's just me and
him, you can tend to over you tend to mess with stuff that
doesn't need to be messed with And whether it's running
mechanics or like a certain passers move or you try to break

(01:07:38):
things down too much where it's like am I taking three steps
here? Am I taking four steps here?
How does it, how is it supposed to feel?
And it's like, let me just blackeverything out and just do it
because I've done it so many times that I can get back to
that space where it's like stop just for a second, stop coaching
me. Just let me do it naturally once
as opposed to thinking about letme get my knee up.

(01:08:01):
Let me make sure that my my footis angled in and I'm getting my
big toe pressure down. That has been a benefit to me.
And I think it's so kind of beenbetter as I'm more into the
natural competition of having guys around where I'm not so
like trying to do everything perfect.
What motivates you? Trying to be the best, trying to

(01:08:21):
be the best that I can be. And I understand trying to be
the best ever is very tough to do because it's always going to
be up for debate. So I'm just going to try to be
the best that I can possibly be.And winning a Super Bowl is no
doubt motivating me and winning a playoff game is absolutely
motivating me. It's something that we haven't
been able to do since I've been there.

(01:08:44):
I think that's absolutely unacceptable.
And that is what's attached to my name right now.
And I have to answer for that. As much as it sucks when you say
TJ Watt XYZ, you all say TJ Wattand not won a playoff game and.
Does that that genuinely bothersyou?
Oh. Genuinely bothers me because I'm

(01:09:07):
a part of those teams as much asI'm only one player, as much as
whoever is 1 player like you areputting your hand in the pile.
To you I feel like I can make a difference enough to help win a
playoff game and to have that toyour legacy.
Especially when you play for an organization that has 6 Super
Bowls and has when me and Joe Green comes back, it's me and

(01:09:28):
Joe Green two time defence play of the year.
I don't even know how many SuperBowls he's won.
You know, Jerome Bettis, one or two times Super Bowl champion.
Like it's like TJ Watt. Yeah, great individual player,
but what's the team's success? And that's what really bothers
me. On the football front, Aaron
Rodgers, how do you view him? I, I, I don't really have a much

(01:09:51):
of an opinion on him, honestly. And I asked her what he said to
the team because I wasn't able to be there.
And it was just along the lines of just get to know me and, and
form an opinion about me. And I, I really respect that.
And I think it's one of those things where when there's so
much about you out in the media,anybody can read and make up an

(01:10:12):
assumption about who someone is,but until you meet them face to
face, you really shouldn't get to judge.
If you had a chance to connect with him, I.
Have not had a chance to connectwith him yet.
What are your hopes with him? I hope that he plays really good
football. That's the hope every single
year. Is that whoever's at on the
field and the whether what position they play, I hope they

(01:10:34):
play the best football they've played in their life and that's
myself included. All right, sort of random NFL
issues. How about the tush?
Push your thoughts. I mean, I'm just glad I don't
have to be at the bottom of those piles.
I'm usually like more in like the B&C gap areas.
How about new overtime rules? As a defensive guy, I really
don't. I mean, I'd rather have myself

(01:10:55):
take us like us, go out there, take a stand.
But I understand what gets ratings these days, and that's
scoring touchdowns and offensivepoints.
How do you view what's going on with the NIL right now?
It's crazy wild, Wild West is the best way to put it.
There really is no allegiance touniversities.

(01:11:16):
I don't know if my story would be possible today.
I don't know if the what, because if I get hurt, they're
just going to continue to bring in new guys.
And maybe I would have said instead of switching positions,
I would have said, screw this place, I'm going to go try
somewhere else. And I'm sure just being JJ Watt
and Derek Watt being my brothers, I probably could have

(01:11:37):
made a decent money just kind ofloafing around and not really
pushing myself. So I think it can take
motivation away. I think it's great for athletes
who use it as a benefit and are able to make money for
themselves and their family. I think it's something to
monitor for guys when they get in the NFL if the money really

(01:11:59):
changes them or not because theyalready have money.
So that's very interesting. If you were the one creating the
rules for what should happen, what would you do?
I have no idea. That's a great question.
I'm not like locked in enough tobe able to even say, but I think
there definitely needs to be some sort of parameters in the
transfer thing. That's one of the things that I
think it's important to take pride in your university that

(01:12:21):
you go to. And I don't want anyone to be
locked into a university if they're in a bad situation, they
can transfer out, whatever that looks like.
But I think that if you make a commitment to a university, to a
certain extent, you should honorthat commitment and play for
them and bring the pride in having your hand in the pile for

(01:12:43):
that organization to see the development throughout.
Because it's hard for these coaches too, I'm sure, to be
able to develop when guys just want to play right away and
they're not willing to take the long Rd.
So I want to ask you about this nut allergy, which is like a
real quite frightening at times thing.
I want to run through just some different moments and have you

(01:13:03):
tell about what went on. The 1st and kind of most famous
story was the European vacation with the brothers.
We went out to, so I used to always eat the pesto cavatapi
for noodles and company, right? But it, I didn't know it didn't
have pine nuts in it so I could eat that and I didn't know
whatever. So I we went out to a
restaurant, got pesto cavatapi and took like 2 bites and I was

(01:13:27):
getting an allergic reaction in it.
I hive up in the throat and it start to wheeze and it's hard to
breathe. And and how quickly do you know
something's up? Yeah, it's, they change
honestly, like back then it was like within minutes.
Sometimes it depends on what what it is that I eat, because
sometimes it can be within minutes or sometimes it can be
an hour delayed. So like it'll really mess you up

(01:13:49):
an hour delayed. But I had the reaction.
We tried to get a freaking taxi,but there's like a million taxis
and we go to the back one. The guy's like, well, we can't
get in this taxi, you have to goto the front 1.
So when Jada's all pissed, Derek's pissed.
We're like running up to the front taxi.
We go to the hospital eventuallyand they don't let my brothers
come back with me. And then I'm trying to, like,

(01:14:11):
explain to them what a tree nut is.
And they don't understand. I'm like translating it.
And people who are around me, they take my shirt off in the
most, like, all red and like, doctors are like gasping at
like, what's going on? Like, right, this can't be good.
And finally they're able to treat me.
But my brothers out in the waiting room and they are just
like looking at this screen trying to like figure out.

(01:14:32):
Of red, green. Yeah, Red, green, yeah, I
couldn't. Like, I don't know, they tell
the story better than me, but yeah, they were basically
freaking out because for whatever reason, I think maybe I
was my, I was under 18 at the time, so whatever, they couldn't
let them see me or whatever it was.
But yeah, they were freaking out.
Were. You concerned like you were
going to die. I've never been concerned that

(01:14:52):
I'm going to die, but I'm, I've been concerned that like, this
is going South very fast. I need to get it figured out.
I've never like truly like, thought I was going to die.
What about Derek's wedding? Derek's wedding was another one
where it was like, no they like asked them to make sure no nuts
were there whatever at least on my food and ended up somehow

(01:15:16):
cross contamination like 20 minutes into the dance party.
Like the party part of the nightafter dinner I started having
allergic reaction. I had to go to the emergency
room and I missed like 2 hours of his wedding which sucked.
But that was I mean Daniel was with me for that one.
That was her first time she was with me.
She was like. What's she doing?
She was balling like she was uncontrolled because like it is

(01:15:37):
hard to see like I swell up completely like in the face, in
the neck, everything in like I start to wheeze and it's like
minute by minute and it's harderand harder for me to breathe.
But as soon as I get the medicine it genuinely like it
generally like helps me and. This is your brother's wedding,
the caterer had been warned. They knew better.
It was a whole thing, It really was.
I had one at the Steelers fashion show my rookie year.

(01:16:00):
James Harrison had to take you to the hospital.
That wasn't that one messed me up because it was like an hour
and a half after I ate the calamari.
It was like a Asian style calamari with like, cashews in
it. And like 10 minutes before we
were supposed to go on to the fashion show, whatever runway.
Someone's like, dude, what's up with your face?
And I was like, well, that's notgood to hear, so let me go look

(01:16:21):
in my phone and my face was blown up.
And yeah, James took me to the to the hospital full speed,
blown red lights and everything was dumb because the ambulance
is right next to us like when wewalked out of the building.
OK, I have heard though you're supposed to have an EpiPen and.
You, I won't care, you know, everybody thinks I'm dumb for
that and I know I'm dumb for that, but I hate carrying.

(01:16:43):
I just hate carrying things because I know I'm going to lose
it. And EpiPen is not like small,
it's like a, like a pencil, you know?
Yeah, but it could save me. I don't like, I know well, and.
And your parents are telling me how?
Yeah, yeah. That's the unfortunate thing is
it's it's getting worse and like.
What's the worst one you've had?I mean, the one I just had in

(01:17:03):
Arizona two or three years ago was pretty bad.
I think that was the last one that I had.
Because you couldn't the the hospital was like closed.
Yeah, that one I had an EpiPen for and I got, I stabbed myself
with EpiPen. I was so pissed.
I'm like I tell them I'm I'm allergic to tree nuts, severe
allergy and they bring out breadand they bring out like that oil

(01:17:25):
saucer every at the bottom. It's usually like a garlic like
it looks like garlic, but it must have been a nut or
something. So then like 2 bites in I knew
something was wrong. So I went to the car and Danny
told you know, Danny's got a fiery side.
So she told them off and then weleft and then I she.
She seems like she could stand up for.
When needed, yeah. And I, I stabbed myself with the

(01:17:46):
EpiPen, and I've only used the EpiPen.
That was the second time in my life I've used my EpiPen, and
the first time I use it, it worked right away.
That time I used it, nothing. Literally nothing.
So I was like all. Right.
Well, that that's then really. Yeah, I was like, we're screwed
here. We need to find a place and
we're in Sedona. I'm like no idea where the next
closest hospital or emergency room is.

(01:18:08):
We get to the one of them and they like they're not accepting
patients or whatever their theirrooms are all full.
And they know you're having a. Yeah and I'm like I I need
medicine right now and finally we ended U getting back.
I was in the hallway I was in the hallway they didn't have a
room for me and I just called myteam doc.
That's where being like my situation is just awesome

(01:18:31):
because I can call my team doc and he can talk to their doctors
and just hash everything out andget the situation under control
pretty quickly. And your dad was saying there
was another instance where he like swiped crumbs off the bed
or. Yeah, it's, there's been many
times. My dad.
No, my dad, well, he's a pair. Of he was screwing around and.
Like, so he's like, he's giving me a hard, he's giving me the

(01:18:51):
hard time in Minnesota Super Bowl.
We're there. We, we used to always go to
Super Bowl as a family and hang out and stuff.
And I was just hanging out with him before like the award show
or whatever. And he's like, Oh, you're
allergic to this or something? You like threw one at me.
It it like it was like a pecan or something.
It hit me in the eye and it freaking my whole face blew up
from that. So I, that's never had me

(01:19:13):
before. Obviously I've, I've only
ingested them. I've never had them touch my
skin before. So that was like, I didn't
realize how severe the allergy was until that moment, and he
obviously felt terrible. Thanks for making the thought.
Thank you, it was fun. Thanks for listening.
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