For a while now, it’s been apparent that JJ Watt’s football career would earn him a spot in Canton, Ohio. But despite his status as a first-round pick out of Wisconsin, few could have predicted such an outcome earlier than Watt’s first NFL defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips.
Watt played in his final NFL game on Sunday, fittingly logging two sacks and three tackles for loss against the 49ers. He made an instant impact as a rookie in 2011, starting every game and logging 5.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. That left enough of an impression on Phillips that, entering the team’s 2012 training camp, the veteran coach offered a bold prediction for his budding new star.
“[Watt’s] going to be a bust—not a first-round bust but a bust in the Hall of Fame,” Phillips said in July 2012, per NFL.com. “The only players I’ve seen that can do what he can do with his intensity can be found in Canton.”
Watt immediately made Phillips look like a smart man. He recorded a league-leading 20.5 sacks and 39 tackles for loss, winning his first of three Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Once eligible, Watt is a surefire bet to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It won’t be a surprise when that happens, but it’s clear that some reached that conclusion long before others.
