T.J. Watt has already conquered the world of football, so he is moving on with his life’s work to pursue a new career as a television game show host. In fact, the entire gaggle of NFL Watts will co-host a new reality game show together called Ultimate Tag, which apparently is pretty much what it sounds like: a souped-up game of tag.
Watt is, of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ third-year outside linebacker, a former first-round pick in 2017 who reached the Pro Bowl a year ago with his team-leading 13 sacks and six forced fumbles. His oldest brother, J.J. Watt, is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year for the Houston Texans, while middle brother Derek Watt has been doing his thing at fullback with less publicity with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Very excited to finally be able to announce a project that I executive produced and also hosted”, J.J. posted on social media. “‘Ultimate Tag’ takes a childhood game to extreme levels, with insane obstacles and incredible athletes. Coming in early 2020”.
He added that “the idea” behind the game is the fact that “everyone has played it” as a kid. Only this will be an adult version. “Everyone knows that panicked feeling of being chased. Now imagine doing it with crazy obstacles, professionals running you down and all on national TV!”.
Truth be told, I’m not going to watch it. I didn’t watch Dancing With the Stars when Hines Ward was on. I didn’t watch whatever that show was when Antonio Brown was a hippo instead of a jackass for a day. I don’t even know who else has done what else, but I do know I didn’t watch it. It’s not my thing. But maybe it’s your thing, or someone you know would appreciate it.
The thing is a year away anyway and surely will be conducted in the offseason. I’m not exactly anticipating that this is going to affect the brothers’ abilities to perform on the field in any way. Though I’m kind of surprised the Gronkowski brothers didn’t beat them to the punch on this.
And as I continue to ponder this, I find myself revisiting Le’Veon Bell’s post-signing comments about the Steelers organization, during which he claimed that the front office basically doesn’t want its players to do anything other than football.
Watt is just one of many players who have used their on-field success with the team to continue to build their brand, as JuJu Smith-Schuster is also doing. Perhaps Bell is simply not a very good rapper, as Keenan Allen, Derek Watt’s teammate, would agree.
