Despite putting together an NFL resume rivaling some of the greatest players in the history of the sport, J.J. Watt admits there are some things he wishes he could do differently.

Throughout his 12 seasons in the NFL — first with Houston Texans and then the Arizona Cardinals — Watt was named Defensive Player of the Year three times. He also earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors five times apiece.

Talking about his time in the league on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday, Watt said his biggest regret was not giving himself enough time to recover from his long list of injuries.

“My biggest regret would be how I handled my injuries,” he said. “I tried to come back too fast, especially early on. I thought I was Superman. So then, it probably led to more injuries as I went throughout my career.”

After playing all 16 regular-season games his first five years in the NFL, Watt’s injuries started to pile up. In 2016, he had back surgery during the offseason. After playing just three games, he had another surgery that ended his season. A year later, he broke his leg after five games and missed the rest of the 2017 season. He even had some alarming heart issues during his final season.

In the last seven seasons of his career, he played more than eight games just three times.

Watt said he was simply too hard on himself and wanted to be there for his teammates and fans.

“I do wish that I had the perspective and knowledge to not be so mentally tough on myself,” he added. “When you get injured, all you can think about is, ‘I’m letting down my teammates. I’m letting down the fans. They’re paying me a lot of money to play this game. I have to get back out there.’ And I really let that weight extremely heavily on me, and I do think it contributed — possibly — to more injuries as I went. So I wish I had better perspective and ability to handle that.”

Watch above via ESPN.

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