T.J. Watt insists he doesn’t care who wins Super Bowl LVII, but the Steelers’ star edge rusher won’t lack for meaningful allegiances when the action kicks off either. “I don’t root for a team,” Watt says. "I’m just gonna be rooting for the people in it.”
In particular, Watt will be cheering for his close friend and former college teammate, Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards, whose ascent from undrafted free agent to do-it-all anchor for a suffocating Eagles defense ranks high among the game’s most compelling success stories. Not that Watt is surprised. “All the big plays and impressive stats aren’t possible without the hard work he’s put in,” Watt says. “He loves the grind, loves the process.”
Watt would know. On top of sharing a moniker, the twosome of T.J.s trains side by side every offseason at a gym outside Milwaukee, where their fierce workout battles over the past four springs and early summers laid a foundation for Edwards’s breakout fourth year in the NFL last fall. “When T.J.’s around,” Watt, 28, says of Edwards, 26, “we get very competitive. Whether it’s a simple stretching drill, or a box jump, or anything strength-related, we’re always trying to win.”
