J.J. Watt Thinks Travis Kelce's Agents Are Right To Consider Overexposure

J.J. Watt knows a little bit about what Travis Kelce is going through.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Kelce's managers expressed some concern that their client is overexposed given his newfound stardom as his relationship with Taylor Swift continues. The plan for Kelce in 2024: "Fewer deals. Quality over quantity. Authenticity first."

Watt thinks that might be a good idea. When he entered the NFL, he experienced overexposure himself, and he described the experience (somewhat ironically) in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

"There's no handbook for it," Watt said. "As you are coming up and coming out of college and going into the NFL and making that transition, nobody hands you a book and says, 'Hey, you're going to be rich and famous, here's what you do.'"

Watt was well aware that he had a rare opportunity: Most defensive players don't get the kinds of endorsement opportunities he received.

"People are throwing absurd amounts of money at you for commercial opportunities, for endorsements for things, and you've never experienced it before," Watt said. "You're a small-town kid from Wisconsin—I'm literally looking at these numbers, and I'm thinking about my buddy back home who is a plumber, and I'm like 'That guy would work 10 years for this number, why would I not do it for this two-hour commercial?'"

Watt's list of sponsors grew long during his career, including high-profile companies like Reebok, Verizon, Ford and Gatorade. One offseason, he filmed a number of commercials and realized when the NFL season came back around how often he was on TV.

"That was kind of when Twitter was still a little bit early, it was still coming out, so I'm reading everything," Watt said. "And now all of a sudden people are like, 'I'm sick of this guy, I want him off,' and I don't know how to emotionally and properly handle that. So I'm starting to figure out, 'Oh man, the world hates me, they don't like me. So I have to back this down.'"

By backing off, Watt gave himself space to realize that the most important thing was being natural, authentic and real. That wasn't always easy: Watt learned that being natural and authentic also makes you vulnerable.

"Everybody knows you think about yourself more than anybody else in the entire world thinks about you," Watt said. "In reality, nobody cares, man. There was just a time where a lot of people did care, and they made their thoughts very clear and very real.

"So it was a learning experience for me, and I'm going to make a lot more mistakes in the future, but yes, overexposure and putting yourself out there can certainly make yourself vulnerable. But as long as you are being real and being who you are, let's be honest: 99.99 percent of people ain't turning down those checks, ain't turning down those endorsements, ain't turning down those opportunities."

McAfee thanked Watt for his thoughtful answer and noted that his own show is flying "too close to the sun right now" on overexposure. Watt asked how McAfee deals with it.

"I'm muting people at an all-pro level right now," McAfee said. "I'm a [Division] I muter and blocker at this standpoint, because I'm on there. I have to be on there. I have to see everything that's going on. I have to be on the internet. There's people in the TV and entertainment world that are like, 'You can't go on the internet. It'll kill you.' It's like, how the f*** do you what's going on?"