After some rehab work on a side field, J.J. Watt joined his teammates during Tuesday’s OTA session at the Houston Methodist Training Center. The three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year watched from the sideline, not yet cleared to practice after last year’s season-ending leg surgery.
But that hasn’t slowed down Watt’s charitable work off the field.
Less than 24 hours after Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School, Watt stepped up to pay for the victims’ funeral services. This week, he visited students being treated for gunshot wounds in a local hospital.
“I think it’s incredible, what J.J.’s done in a philanthropic way for this city is incredible,” head coach Bill O’Brien said Tuesday. “People say it all the time, ‘Our hearts go out to Santa Fe,’ but it’s more than that. It’s a complicated subject. I’ve heard a lot of different opinions on it over the last week. It’s a horrendous thing. I have two young sons. You send them to school and you’re sending them to the safest place that you know. When these things are happening in these schools, it’s a terrible thing.”
Students and two teachers were among those killed in the Friday school shooting that occurred just 40 miles outside of Houston. Watt took to Twitter and described the tragic events as “horrific.”
Watt’s visit this week lifted the spirits of some of the 13 injured students.
Thank you thank you @JJWatt for coming to see Sarah today. Even though she is not allowed to talk to much she has this huge smile on her face and keeps rambling on about you! You made her feel so special today it means so much to see that beautiful smile on her face! ❤️
— Bri💚💛👼🏽 (@briannahuuston) May 21, 2018
Without cameras or fanfare JJ Watt visited survivors of the Santa Fe High School shooting.
These photographs were taken by family members and friends of the victims.https://t.co/42YcLN5DM6— Jeff Ehling (@JeffEhlingABC13) May 22, 2018
“That’s just J.J., that’s the person he is, that’s the type of heart he has,” Deshaun Watson said. “He’s a guy that wants to help. Actually watching it during rehab with the news, everyone just got quiet because it was just something that we weren’t expecting but we send all our prayers out to those families and to that high school. We’re going to continue to help them out as much as we can.”
Watt’s charitable work in the Houston area also includes last year’s staggering Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. After Watt raised $37 million for hurricane victims and delivered truckloads of donated supplies, he won the NFL’s 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year award. Last month, he was also named to Time Magazine’s TIME 100, the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
