J.J. Watt Reportedly Played with 5 Torn Muscles Last Season

By the end of last season, J.J. Watt had "five partially or fully torn muscles in his torso, groin and upper legs" that required surgery, according to Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com.

Per Ganguli's source: "Watt had a partially torn right adductor longus, a fully torn left adductor longus and a fully torn left adductor pectineus in his inner thighs and groin. But he also had partial tears in his left and right abdominals."

Watt, 27, was dominant once again in 2015, registering 76 tackles, 17.5 sacks, eight passes defended, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the third time.

The fact that Watt was playing through several injuries—some of which were suffered early in the season, per Ganguli—makes his production all the more impressive.

Watt also broke his hand in December and played through a herniated disk. So he made a strong case for being not only the NFL's most dominant defensive player in 2015 but perhaps its toughest as well.

"That J.J. Watt is a bad SOB," NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor—the only other player with three Defensive Player of the Year awards in NFL history—said, per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle on March 26. "He's going to get it a couple of more times. I think he's one of these guys that only comes around once every 20 to 30 years."

Getting Watt back to 100 percent before the 2016 season will be crucial for the Houston Texans, who cannot afford to lose their star defensive lineman to injury. Houston rode its talented defense to its first postseason since 2012, though the Texans lost in the Wild Card Round to the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-0, as starting quarterback Brian Hoyer threw four interceptions.

That prompted the team to sign Brock Osweiler in the offseason and upgrade the team's 19th-ranked offense by signing running back Lamar Miller to go along with star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. But the Texans will likely only go as far as Watt and the defense can take them.

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