J.J. Watt wants you to know training camp stats don't matter.
On Thursday, the future NFL Hall of Famer took to X (formerly Twitter) to lash out at media members who are tracking stats during preseason practices. He had a harsh critique for anyone putting any meaning behind the numbers.
His post on X read:
Training Camp “stats” are insane and ridiculous.
Used to think it was always just people joking, but now seeing them seriously reported.
You have no idea what the purpose of that period is, what the goals are, what the context is, etc.
It could be a strictly 3rd & Long blitz period where every play is skewed to the defenses advantage. Coaches could be asking the QB to focus specifically on one route concept. DLine may be focusing only on bull rushes one day or just speed rushes for one period.
More importantly, practice is for practicing. You’re supposed to fail. You’re supposed to try new things, see what works and what doesn’t work, etc. If you only do what works, you’ll never grow, adapt, change.
The entire point of training camp is to build and grow towards the season so that you perform your best when the real games start.
That's a completely fair assessment. The purpose of practice, especially preseason practice, is to work out the kinks before real games actually begin. Tracking interceptions, sacks, yards, etc. is silly when the results don't matter yet.
Reporters will continue to do it, but no one should put much stock into the results.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as J.J. Watt Rips Media Members Stat-Keeping During NFL Training Camp.
