Watt, 27, is widely considered as the top defensive player in the National Football League and has never missed a game during his stellar five-year career at defensive end.
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Watt had the surgery to fix a herniated disc, according to one report. Watt had surgery in January and was rehabbing from that procedure before injuring his back.
Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt had back surgery and will begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list, according to a person familiar with the condition of the NFL’s two-time defensive player of the year. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said that the recovery time is 6-8 weeks, though he later added that an eight-week recovery time is the best-case scenario.
Watt, who wasn’t expected to play in the upcoming preseason, anyway, suffered an elbow injury in 2012 and didn’t play in a preseason game. Texans need Watt to recover from July back surgery and be ready for season opener.
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The Chiefs play the Texans on September 18. The herniated disk apparently was aggravated while Watt was doing some training, leading to him having the surgery this week. Since entering the league in 2011, he has won three Defensive Player of the Year awards (including in each of the past two seasons) and is a four-time first-team All-Pro. That’s more than any other player during that same time frame.
