J.J. Watt finishes rehab, cleared to resume football activities

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt finished rehabbing his surgically repaired back and is now free to resume football activities.

While the rest of the league is still icing their wounds from a long season, J.J. Watt has officially completed rehabbing his back and is cleared to resume football activities, per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop.

Watt’s coming off a rough 2016 calendar year that saw him undergo two back surgeries and three total operations. In July, Watt went under for surgery on a herniated disc that caused him to miss the entire preseason. Three weeks into the 2016 regular season the same back issue that pushed Watt out of the Texans-Chiefs 2015 Wild Card game flared up again, putting the star on injured reserve for the rest of year.

To ensure his back stays fit Watt didn’t pursue a return to the field as aggressively as before and intensified his core workouts. The long healing period also seems to have renewed Watt’s interest in the game after he hinted at an early exit from football last offseason.

“”When the thing you love is taken away from you, you really appreciate what you’ve missed,” Watt said. “There’s a brand new fire, a new passion. There are new levels to reach I haven’t reached yet,” said Watt continued, via the Texans’ official Twitter account. “Trying to be the best player ever.”

Watt went on to make sure folks that rehab was over and “my offseason is a regular offseason with full training. I feel very good knowing I have many months ahead.”

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The return of Watt will conceivably boost the Texans defensive front. Opposite defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had his first true breakout year with Watt out of the line-up since being the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. H-Town’s residents are just hoping the two can be the destructive force so many were predicting with Clowney and Watt on the edges.