The Houston Texans did right by their most valuable asset on Monday, making J.J. Watt one of the highest-paid players in football.
Watt still had two years left on the rookie deal he signed with Houston in 2011, but no one should fault Houston management for acting aggressively to lock up a potentially historic talent.
As Gregg Rosenthal put it Monday night, Watt had a "quietly incredible" 2013 season that got lost in the haze of the Texans' meltdown in nearly every other aspect of their operation.
According to the NFL Media research team, Watt leads all players in sacks (31), quarterback hits (89), knockdowns (85), tackles for loss (61), batted passes at the line of scrimmage (21) and tackles by defensive ends (161) over the past two seasons.
That's scary-good production that could actually improve now that Jadeveon Clowney has brought his own freakish talents to town. Just as baseball fans should make time to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch, football fans should carve out a few hours to see Watt do his thing.
We could be witnessing a legend operating at the height of his powers.
The latest "Around The NFL Podcast" predicts our Super Bowl champions and the major winners of the regular-season awards.
