JJ Watt bids a tearful goodbye to football in his final game for the Arizona Cardinals

JJ Watt said a tearful goodbye to football when the Arizona Cardinals defensive end received a standing ovation from the fans with minutes remaining in his team’s game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

The 33-year-old announced on December 27 that he was retiring from the game, three months after he suffered atrial fibrillation, which required his heart to get back into rhythm.

He walked off the field in the final moments of the Cardinals’ game against the 49ers on Sunday, with his Arizona team trailing 38-18.

And the magnitude of leaving the game was not lost on Watt or his wife, Kealia, who also wept as the defensive end received a standing ovation at Levi’s Stadium.

Arizona Cardinals’ JJ Watt said a tearful goodbye to football in his final game on Sunday

Watt, 33, is retiring after a heart problem was detected last October.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday night, Watt wrote: “Sometime in the next few days I will find the right words.

But for now, all I can say is thank you. You have changed my life forever and I am forever grateful.

Watt retires as one of the best defensive ends in the NFL. A five-time Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro, Watt is the only NFL player to record multiple 20-sack seasons, both during his decade with the Houston Texans. He has played the last two seasons with the Cardinals.

Watt also received the 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his well-known philanthropic efforts.

Watt’s charity, the Justin J. Watt Foundation, offers extracurricular activities in various communities, providing children with a safe place to participate in athletics. Most of the schools in the program are located in Texas, where he played for a decade, his native Wisconsin, as well as Alabama, Illinois and California.

Helped raise $37 million for victims of Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area and offered to pay funeral costs for families of victims after mass shootings.

Speaking on the Friday before his last game, Watt said: “I think part of it was that I also wanted to be able to thank everyone who helped me and everyone here.” If you wait until the middle of the off-season to do it, I can’t go around this building because no one knows.

Watt takes a moment with assistant head coach Jeff Rodgers in emotional scenes Sunday

Watt is greeted by his Cardinals teammate, linebacker Dennis Gardeck, as he says goodbye.

I don’t want it to be a big secret. I want to be able, when I walk out of this building, to shake hands with all these people and say thank you.

“I want to be able to say thank you to everyone at my last game and just give that appreciation.” That has been a good part because I can rightly say thank you to everyone.

Watt revealed a heart problem in October, saying he had atrial fibrillation on September 29 and needed to get his heart beating again. He also revealed that he made the disclosure because the information was about to leak.