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JJ Watt claps back at fan doubting he idolized Reggie White as a child

On3 imageby:Dan Morrison•12/21/22•

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JJ Watt
Michael Owens / Contributor PhotoG/Getty

Now a veteran of the NFL, JJ Watt is one of the league’s best pass rushers ever. A couple of days ago, there was a stat going around that Watt was second, between Reggie White and TJ Watt, in terms of the quickest to reach 75 sacks in their careers.

JJ Watt thought this was a pretty cool stat because he’s sandwiched between his childhood hero and his younger brother on that list. He tweeted, “Sandwiched between my childhood idol and a child I ate cereal next to everyday growing up. This is really cool and hard to comprehend.”

One fan didn’t believe his story. So, that fan replied to JJ Watt, saying there was no way that Watt was a Reggie White fan because he would have been 10 or 11 years old when White retired. The fan then asked Watt to be genuine. It was a request that Watt found funny.

“Please, tell me more about my own life… ‘Just be real, don’t be fake,'” JJ Watt quote tweeted the fan with a laughing emoji.

Along with the comment laughing at the idea someone would tell him about his own life, he included a photo from what appears to be a childhood yearbook. In it, a seven-year-old Watt praised White. He says that White is a good football player, played well on Monday, and that Watt wanted to be a football player too.

What is interesting is that someone would think that a child in Wisconsin could never possibly idolize Reggie White, who played for the Green Bay Packers between 1993 and 1998.

When it’s all said and done, JJ Watt is going to be in the Hall of Fame. He is, after all, one of the game’s best edge rushers. He’ll be in there beside Reggie White, a legend who he looked up to as a young player. Meanwhile, if TJ keeps playing like he is now, he’ll be on his way to Canton too. That’s even cooler.