Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt reveals retirement had been in the works for several weeks

Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy joined defensive end J.J. Watt for a quick breakfast in the team’s cafeteria when he said he first heard the news.

“I sat down, we were just talking shop,” McCoy said Wednesday, “and then I looked at the TV and it says J.J. Watt’s retiring and I look at him and I’m like, ‘What is this?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ and the conversation went from there.”

Asked if that was how it went down, Watt smiled and said, “Colt’s a liar.”

“Colt’s known for weeks I was going to retire," Watt continued. "He may have known it at breakfast, but that breakfast was about two or three months ago.”

Meeting with reporters for the first time since announcing on social media Tuesday morning that this will be his last NFL season, Watt said retirement has been in the works for several weeks.

“There’s some people in the building that have known for a long time,” Watt said. “Maybe they thought I was joking, but I told people for a long time, ‘This is my last year.’ I’m very thankful that everybody kept it quiet. You guys know I’ve had some issue with leaks in the past, so I’m very grateful.

“Some people tried to convince me to stay.”

It’s not going to happen, according to the NFL’s three-time Defensive Player of the Year and one of the game’s all-time greatest edge rushers. This is his 12^th year in the league and he’s ready to move on to a new chapter in his life.

Watt, 33, explained that he wanted to walk away from the game on his terms.

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“It’s the right time. It just feels like the right time,” he said. “I put so much into the game and the wins and the losses, the mental stress and passion that comes with it, it just weighs on you. It’s just really heavy. Losses are very tough to take. You live with the highs and the lows and I’ve always said I would way rather lives with the highs and the lows than never know the middle. I don’t want to just be ‘blah.’

“But I’ve got a son now (Koa), obviously I had a heart scare earlier in the year (he went into atrial fibrillation and needed to have his heart shocked back into rhythm), so there’s certainly some of that that played into it. But I’m very happy and I’m very at peace with it.”

But it was also important, Watt said, to go out on top. He’s leading the 4-11 Cardinals is sacks (9½), quarterback hits (21) and tackles for loss (14) and has been playing his best football the past two weeks with just two games left to play — at the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday and at the San Francisco 49ers after that.

Playing in the final year of his two-year contract with Arizona, he could have easily decided to keep going and entertain offers for a new deal from the Cardinals or another team, but he doesn’t want that. And he said he won’t regret it, either.

“No,” Watt said. “I’d much rather go out playing good football, knowing that I could still play and knowing that hopefully people will remember me playing good football, then to go out limping out and being forced out and knowing that I probably should have done it earlier.”

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said he and his staff were unaware that Watt had been preparing to announce his retirement after earning five first-team All-Pro and five Pro Bowl selections and winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2017.

“I’m happy for him. He seems like he’s in a really good place,” Kingsbury said. “We had no idea that was coming, but what a tremendous player and person and all-time great in this league. To see him lay the way he played the other night and then to hear that, I think it’s just a special time for him, the organization, and the entire NFL to kind of celebrate him these last two weeks.”

When he made his announcement Tuesday, which he said he decided to do on the spot, reactions came pouring in from across the NFL and the sports world. The comments and the posts all had a familiar theme — they recognized Watt for not only his athletic achievements on the field, but for his good-will personality and humanitarian efforts off the field.

“The thing I don’t want to get lost is that I never did it alone,” Watt said. “I’ve had so many incredible people help me. My parents always said, ‘It takes a small village to raise a child,’ and it truly has taken many villages to raise me and to help me become who I am and to do the things that I’ve done. I didn’t do anything by myself.

“I didn’t train myself. I didn’t feed myself. I didn’t build my foundation by myself. I didn’t build my career by myself. I didn’t raise that Hurricane (Harvey) fundraiser by myself I had incredible people with me every single step of the way and I’ve been unbelievably fortunate. Coaches, trainers, players, obviously my parents, my family, my wife, my brothers. I’ve had countless, countless people help me along the way and I’ve had unbelievable fans the whole time.

“The only thing I can say at the end of it all is that I hope I made everybody proud because I want all those people to know that they’re efforts weren’t in vain.”

But the endless grind, energy and force that had motivated Watt for so long was beginning to wear him down.

“I think that’s honestly part of the reason that it’s time to walk away is because I don’t want all my energy to go to that anymore,” he said. “I’m ready to not commit all my energy to that. I’m ready to watch my son grow up. I’m ready to spend more time with my wife (Kealia). I’m ready for a new challenge, whatever that challenge may be. I’m looking forward to seeing what else is out there.”

Watt said he hasn’t had a chance to view all the many texts and voicemails he’s received since making his announcement. If there was a message about a possible future job as an NFL television analyst or color commentator, he said, he might think about it. He might also politely decline.

As for Watt perhaps getting into coaching at some point, Kingsbury doubts it.

“Nah, I would say Hollywood before coaching,” Kingsbury said. “Him and the Rock would be a good thing.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt on retirement: 'It's the right time'