Just give him a minute!
J.J. Watt is finally getting to experience what it’s like to be an NFL star picking his next team—and he’s learning that a lot of the process is just being badgered by people online.
Watt is pretty active on social media, and now every time he posts something, the comments are flooded with people telling him where to sign. When he marked his first wedding anniversary by posting a video of his wife, Kealia, eating chicken wings in her wedding dress, he was bombarded with comments saying he should sign with Buffalo so Kealia can eat the best wings in the world. A few days later, he tweeted simply, “free agency is wild” and the replies proved his point. Every last one of them was telling him to sign here or sign there. Even a video of his brother, Steelers pass rusher T.J., shoveling snow at J.J.’s house was construed as a recruiting tactic.
So when a Cardinals fan asked Watt on Sunday night if he was finally going to pick a new team, Watt shut them down with a clever retort.
That’s the kind of struggle you can understand even if you’re not among the greatest defensive players in NFL history.
(On a side note, can you imagine what J.J. Watt’s takeout order must be like? The delivery driver probably needs a wheelbarrow to bring all that food to his front door.)
Everybody needs to take a deep breath and realize that it’s going to be a while before Watt picks his next team. Hell, teams aren’t even allowed to be contacting Watt right now. The NFL’s legal tampering period doesn’t begin until March 15 and Watt can’t sign anywhere until the league year opens on March 17. In the meantime, the only people who can pester Watt about where he should sign are the fans. So if you send him enough tweets and Instagram comments, maybe he’ll end up coming to your favorite team.
The best of SI
Jon Wertheim’s 50 parting thoughts on the Australian Open. … Michigan and Ohio State played an instant classic that was easily the best game of the college basketball season. … Deion Sanders picked up a win in his debut as Jackson State coach but the real story was the bizarre saga of whether or not his personal belongings were stolen out of the locker room. … The Jacksonville State football team could end up playing 20 games in a calendar year.
Around the sports world
Mariners president Kevin Mather said a whole bunch of revealing stuff—some it quite offensive—during a speech to a rotary club. … Tiger Woods, who is recovering from his fifth back surgery, doesn’t sound too sure about competing in this year’s Masters. … The Timberwolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders and then immediately hired Raptors assistant Chris Finch to replace him. … Cam Newton fired back after being heckled by a kid at a football camp. … A Spanish long jumper was robbed of a chance to win at the national championships by an officiating mistake.
Aleksej Pokuševski out here looking like Dr. J
And then he pulled a great prank on his teammate later in the game
It’s tough to pick the most impressive part of this Connor McDavid goal
Take that, Fernando Tatís Sr.
This knockout punch was nasty
Just a banner weekend for the NHL’s Lake Tahoe facilities
NASCAR driver Daniel Suárez puked inside his helmet during a race
Magic keeps raising the bar with these painfully obvious tweets
American Duane Holmes scored a banger in the English second division
J.D. Martinez reported to spring training in a great Tom Brady shirt
Gotta lay it down by any means necessary
You’ve definitely already seen this sick Anthony Edwards dunk but you should absolutely watch it again
Not sports
Venom from cone snails could be used to make malaria drugs. … A plane’s engine exploded after taking off from the Denver airport and scattered debris all over a neighborhood.
NASA released new footage of Mars taken by the Perseverance rover
A good song
Email [email protected] with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
