J.J. Watt led the National Football League with 17.5 sacks last season.
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EXPECTATIONS: After spending $72 million to lure Osweiler from Denver and adding Miller from Miami, Houston’s offense appears upgraded.
Watt dealt with a number of injuries in 2015, including a herniated disk, a broken hand, a groin tear, and three adductor and two abdominal muscles tears.
Despite widespread speculation locally and nationally that defensive end J.J. Watt’s back surgery could cause him to miss regular-season games for the first time in his career, the Texans are confident he will be ready for the opener against the Chicago Bears.
On Thursday night, a person familiar with Watt’s condition said the star defender has had back surgery and will begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list. He responded by being voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the third time, tying him with New York Giants outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor for the most in history.
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The initial report from the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain was that Watt would not miss any games this season. If he proves he was worth investment and helps Houston’s offense keep pace with vaunted defense if Watt is at full speed Texans should be much improved from last season, when they benefited from weak AFC South to reach playoffs. “There’s a lot of things that go into it – formations, motions, shifts, different cadences, different route concepts, run checks, pass checks – and so it’s just focusing on the details and focusing on the line-of-scrimmage operation”.
