A week after leaving practice early with a groin injury, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt returned to the practice field on Monday.
The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year sustained the injury during a joint practice session with Green Bay and did not play in Thursday’s 28-26 preseason loss to the Packers.
“It’s all just precautionary,” Watt said last week. “The groin tightened up a little bit. Rather than try to push through and do some damage to it, I shut it down. I’ve gotten smarter as I’ve gotten older.”
Watt, 30, was not likely to play in the preseason opener even if he was at 100 percent.
After missing 13 games in 2016 and 11 games in 2017, Watt was healthy for the full slate in 2018 and looked like his old self with 16 sacks and seven forced fumbles.
Watt enters his ninth NFL season with 92 career sacks in 104 games. He is ranked No. 12 on the NFL Top 100 list for 2019.
