You may have gotten a glimpse of the Watt brothers’ northern retreat, in which J.J. Watt, Derek Watt, and T.J. Watt can be seen—on social media—pushing each other to both their physical and nervous wits, training together while also being brothers, which is to say annoying the crap out of each other.
The latter two, now members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, are joined by two thirds of another NFL sibling triumvirate in the Edmunds family, the progeny of former Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl tight end Ferrell Edmunds, whose eldest son is his namesake, though he goes by Trey Edmunds.
The eldest, Trey, was brought into Pittsburgh as a practice squad addition after the Steelers drafted his younger brother, Terrell Edmunds, in the first round in 2018. That same year, earlier in the round, the Buffalo Bills selected the youngest, Tremaine Edmunds, who is now a Pro Bowl linebacker.
Like the Watts, the Edmundses are all at home together, training. But don’t be fooled about who’s running the show. It surely isn’t the boys. And it’s not father Ferrell. No, it’s their mom, Felecia, who has been putting them through their paces and demanding their all since they were little.
The physical and mental conditioning that was instilled in them since a young age prepared them for their athletic careers, which is now making them good money, to say the least. One thing you’ll never have to worry about with them is a lack of conditioning, and at least so far, any type of nagging, chronic injuries.
Terrell’s conditioning level was one of the things that the Steelers were really attracted to when he came out, and it helped him become a full-time starter as a rookie, even if that wasn’t the plan. In spite of being an every-down player on defense, he was also a starter on special teams in 2018.
Mike Tomlin has two years of first-hand experience watching him work. That’s why he asked him if he would be willing to host a fitness class for the Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh, which is a program that is close to his head coach’s heart, putting in a 45-minute program.
Perhaps these family gatherings might be the norm even under normal circumstances, but as should go without saying, we are not living through normal circumstances right now. We are in the middle of a viral pandemic that has much of the country sheltering in place.
It may even be something that will threaten the existence of a football season later this year, at least without bring significantly altered. One proposition that has come up has been the idea of playing in one central location, with all players isolated in hotels for the duration of the season.
That’s a lot to ask of people, but Terell said he would be up to it. “I would be willing”, he told Aditi Kinkabwala. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s preference to live in a hotel for three months, but if that’s the safest route, hopefully everyone’s going to make the right decision”.
