J.J. Watt said his younger brother is more of a natural athlete and even funnier than he is. He also said his brother couldn't be going to a better city and a better team with great tradition than the Steelers.
T.J. Watt, the Steelers' No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, is such a hard worker that even when his more famous big brother took him and middle brother Derek on a European vacation several years ago, they trained in some of the most unlikely places in the world.
"I took the two of them to Dublin, Paris, London and Rome for 15 days after the season because we wanted to go out and have a brothers trip and see the world," J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year with the Houston Texans, said Friday. "The one thing we couldn't do is get on the right sleep schedule and, to be honest, we didn't really care.
"We'd be awake in the middle of the night so we'd we go for a jog along the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees (in Paris). We found a weight room that overlooks Big Ben (in London). It was really cool to find these incredible gyms and see these landmarks all around the world and realize how far we've come but not forget why we were able to be there."
Like his brother, who began his college career as a tight end at Central Michigan as a teammate of Antonio Brown, T.J. Watt was also a tight end who was switched to defense before the start of the 2015 season at Wisconsin. J.J., though, was moved to defensive end because he is bigger. T.J. became an outside linebacker.
In his only year as a starter, T.J. registered 11{ sacks for the Badgers in 2016.
"He worked his butt off," J.J. Watt said. "He's always been a natural athlete, he's always been a little more smooth than I was. When he started to play (defense), he just had a knack for it, things that didn't necessarily come natural to me.
"I've seen how much work he's put into it. It's so exciting for me to watch him this last season, just watching him rush the passer. He plays the game with so much joy. It's a lot of fun to watch."
J.J. Watt said he texted Antonio Brown and told him to "look over my brother and be sure to haze him a little extra for me."
But he also had a message for his younger brother.
"He has to try a Primanti's sandwich for me because I never had one," he said.
