Houston Texans

J.J. Watt gives heartfelt speech for the NFL coach who believed in him

Published Jun. 4, 2016 9:36 p.m. ET

foxsports

J.J. Watt said there was one guy who believed in him when the Houston Texans drafted "that big white kid from Wisconsin" — Wade Phillips.

"Wade saw something in me that nobody else saw in me — and that I might not even have seen in myself," Watt said Friday night at a roast for his former defensive coordinator. "But that's the type of man that Wade Phillips is. He leads you to be what you can be, not what you are. He's the man who taught me that my abilities could far exceed anything that my dreams ever imagined, if I was willing to put in the work, if I was willing to listen, if I was willing to play within the system that he's created, and just go out and give it everything I had. So I did.

"And here I am today, thankful for everything that I've been able to accomplish in my career so far, because of Wade Phillips."

Check out Watt's whole speech in the video above.

Other players prepared video tributes to Phillips, including a roast by Peyton and Cooper Manning, which you can watch below.