Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt is not satisfied with being a beast on defense—he wants to try some offense as well, according to ESPN.com.
"I've been lobbying since day one. It hasn't worked yet, so I don't think it's going to work any time soon, but it's his team," he said.
“Whatever I can do to help the team win, I will do.”
Watt, the reigning Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year, practices catching balls out of the Jugs machine along with the Texans receiving core. He led the league with 20.5 sacks last season and added 81 tackles.
"It's just about being an athlete. I have fun, catching balls is fun, just doing whatever you can to be an athlete, working on hand-eye coordination, and the little things. It never hurts to be able to catch a football," he said.
The 24-year old all-pro defensive end was a tight end while at Central Michigan. He didn’t move to DE until he transferred to Wisconsin.
Watt did get some experience at wide receiver last season, when he lined up at the position during the Pro Bowl—something with which head coach Texans head coach Gary Kubiak wasn’t particularly pleased.
"No, I didn't like that, personally," Kubiak said. "When I saw he was going to line up out there, that scared me a little bit. We'll let him keep getting after the quarterback, and maybe we'll find him a play or two of offense down the road.”
The Texans head coach said he and the coaching staff have pondered putting Watt in a goal-line package.
"No, we've talked about it, actually. We talked about a Wisconsin package with him and [tight end] Garrett [Graham] and OD [tight end Owen Daniels] in the game on the goal line. I don't know what part of the Wisconsin package he would play, but we'll see," Kubiak said.
