The Texans nailed their first-round pick in 2011, taking Wisconsin's J.J. Watt 11th overall. Despite some criticism at the time for picking Watt over Nick Fairley, the defensive end went on to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards and is now just two years away from a potential first-ballot induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2028.
Surely another Watt brother couldn't follow a similar path, right? T.J. Watt has done even more to defy expectations. This past season, the younger Watt officially moved past his brother J.J. On the NFL's all-time sack list and continues to build his own legendary resume as the Steelers' all-time leader in quarterback takedowns.
With one Defensive Player of the Year award already on his mantle and five seasons as a finalist, T.J. Entered the 2025 campaign once again as a frontrunner for the honor. Even as he moves into his 30s, his ability to wreck a game plan remains the gold standard for edge rushers in the league today.
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Here's a closer look at the Watt brothers and the rest of their talented family.
Is T.J. Watt related to J.J. Watt?
T.J. Watt is J.J. Watt's younger brother, and the pair have another brother -- Derek -- who retired in early 2024 after a nine-year career as a standout NFL fullback and special teamer.
Because of a nearly six-year age gap, J.J.'s prime didn't line up with T.J.'s. J.J. Earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2012, 2014, and 2015, all before T.J. Even reached the NFL. Injuries started to pile up for J.J. By the time T.J. Entered the league, but the elder Watt continued to play until his retirement at the end of the 2022 season.
J.J. Watt wanted to team up with his brothers in Pittsburgh 😳
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 13, 2026
"I'm always jealous. They played high school, they played college, and they played NFL together." Pic.twitter.com/yVAy8l682z
Despite overlapping in the NFL for six seasons, J.J. And T.J. Only faced off once, when the Steelers hosted the Texans in September 2020. J.J. Had four tackles and one quarterback hit in the loss, while T.J. Recorded a sack and four quarterback hits.
The Watts continue to hold the record for most sacks by brothers in a single season, combining for 29 in 2019. While the Bosa brothers threatened the mark in 2021, they came up three sacks short of the Watt family standard.
The "sibling rivalry" reached a historic milestone in November 2025: with a strip-sack against the Bears, T.J. Watt officially surpassed J.J. On the NFL's all-time sack list.
J.J. Watt was on the call when T.J. Watt eclipsed his career sack total
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 23, 2025
"I'm gonna put the pads back on because this is preposterous" 😭😭
(via @NFLonCBS)
pic.twitter.com/ieKISUYnSz
T.J. Now sits at 115 career sacks, moving past J.J.’s retired mark of 114.5. While T.J. Famously tied Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22.5 sacks in 2021, that shared record was recently broken by Myles Garrett, who reached 23 sacks in the 2025 season.
Now the only active Watt brother remaining in the NFL, T.J. Is no longer just "catching up" to his brother's career marks -- he is cementing a legacy that may one day see both brothers standing together in Canton.
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T.J. Watt family
The Watt brothers grew up in Wisconsin and went on to play in the NFL. They have no other siblings, so the Watts are 3-for-3 in reaching the highest level.
T.J.'s older brothers both had sizable NFL careers, to say the least, but the trio doesn't exactly come from a family of athletes. Their father, John, was a firefighter, while their mother, Connie, was the vice president of a building operations company.
While their parents aren't professional athletes, J.J. Said in 2016 that performing firefighter training drills in the summer heat gave him an entirely new perspective on how hard the job is.
Crazy respect to all the firefighters out there. Working out in full gear was no joke. Much respect & appreciation to all first responders.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) August 11, 2016
The family has grown significantly in recent years. T.J. Married former professional soccer player Dani Rhodes in 2022, and the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Blakely Marie, in March 2025. T.J. Is also a proud uncle to a growing group: J.J. And his wife Kealia (also a soccer star) have two sons, Koa James and Niko Benjamin, who was born in June 2025.
Meanwhile, Derek and his wife Gabriella have three children: sons Logan and Brayden, and their daughter Isabella Grace, born in April 2025.