It's football time in Houston as Texans camp gets underway
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- JJ Watt got the cheer of the day from Texans fans as camp opened on Sunday. Would we expect anything else?
Watt jogged onto the practice field just a few days after back surgery. He spent some time with his new friend, Jeston, a young man waiting for a heart transplant. What a wonderful young man.
Watt then explained that doctors had "cleaned out a lot of junk" out of his back. He didn't plan on having surgery so close to training camp, but an MRI found the issue and he's glad it did.
"It's gonna be best for me in the long run," said Watt. "It's one of those things where I'm glad we found it because if we didn't it could have been a lot worse."
Watt told us that he herniated a disc in his back last season but was able to play through it. The scan just to check on it discovered that it was worse than they thought so he had it fixed in surgery last week.
For two weeks he'll be allowed to walk and rest as much as he can and then ramp up "pretty quickly." Here's where I heard Watt differently than others. He wants to be ready for the regular season opener. We all know he wants to play and will work his tail off. But he also said he's learned that if he has to miss a game or two he'll do it so he can be healthy and play at a high level. I heard no promises that he WILL return for week 1.
Other quick notes:
After a daylong holdout, DeAndre Hopkins will return to training camp without a new contract on Monday.
Brock Osweiler told us he felt comfortable with the offense and was really happy with his recall from all of his off-season work in the playbook. Good first day. Good arm but he can throw a few more tight spirals.
We're following everything from Texans training camp. Stay with Eyewitness Sports for the very latest. And if you were out at camp, we want to see your fan pics. Email them to us at news@abc13.com or post them using #abc13eyewitness.
