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

J.J. Watt, who recently retired after the 2022 season, is joining CBS Sports as an analyst.

Joining CBS highlights a busy offseason for Watt 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 football 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.

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 finished his last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals after spending his first 10 seasons with the Houston Texans, who drafted him No. 11 overall pick out of Wisconsin in 2011. Watt totaled 114.5 career sacks in his 12 seasons and earned the Defensive Player of the Year award three times 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,” David Berson, CBS Sports president, 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 in Week 4 on Oct. 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers during halftime.