Tim Benz: J.J. Watt 'envious' of brothers Derek, T.J. playing together with Steelers

On the hockey front, the Penguins managed to get themselves only one of the four NHL Staal brothers.

That worked out OK, though.

Now, the Steelers have two Watt brothers. The club recently signed Derek Watt, a fullback formerly with the Los Angeles Chargers. He’ll join All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt in Black and Gold for the 2020 season.

Just one more brother to go, right?

That’d be Houston’s three-time Defensive Player of the Year, lineman J.J. Watt.

Speaking as a Steeler for the first time Thursday, Derek said he isn’t giving up on the hope of getting all three siblings on the same team, at the same time, at some point.

“It would be something incredibly special for our family if we could all three somehow, someway get together on the field in the same uniform,” Derek said via conference call. “I know I’m not the big, sexy signing that J.J. would be. But I plan to do everything I can to not let those fans down.”

J.J. Watt is 31 years old. Derek is 27, and T.J. is 25. So while the two younger brothers were teammates in high school (Pewaukee High School, Wis.) and college (Wisconsin), the oldest brother was always left out of that experience.

“He’s envious that T.J. and I have had this opportunity to play together in high school and college and now the NFL,” Derek said. “He knows how special that really is. He never had that opportunity. I kept missing him by a year.

“He’s extremely happy for us. He’s jealous of the fact that we are playing together. But he is supportive and very happy for the two of us.”

As we have mentioned, Steelers fans (and even former player Brett Keisel) are using Twitter to entice J.J. Watt to Pittsburgh so he can play with his brothers and complete the Watt Trifecta.

Those efforts haven’t been lost on Derek.

“I definitely have seen Steeler nation courting J.J. and trying to get the trilogy together. That would be something special,” Watt said.

Now, there is the small matter of J.J. Watt’s age, the two years and $33 million remaining on his contract in Houston, and the fact that he has missed 32 regular-season games over the last four seasons.

But who cares? Pfft! Details!

Who lets those annoying facts get in the way of a good football fantasy?

Or in the way of a football column on a Friday in the middle of a nationwide sports shutdown?