If J.J. Watt has his way, he might be doing his signature military salute celebration after touchdown receptions, as well as after sacks, this season.
The Houston Texans' star defensive end talked Tuesday about his desire to play on offense for the Texans in their goal-line packages this season.
"Whatever I can do to help the team win, I will do," said Watt, who was The Associated Press' Defensive Player of the Year last season after registering a league-best 20.5 sacks.
He said his desire to play offense isn't new and so far his conversations with coach Gary Kubiak have taken on a joking manner, but he isn't giving up hope.
"I've been lobbying since day one. It hasn't worked yet, so I don't think it's going to work any time soon, but it's his team," he said.
Watt, who went to Central Michigan to play tight end before being switched to defense after transferring to Wisconsin, likes to catch balls from the Jugs machine with the other receivers in practice.
"It's just about being an athlete. I have fun, catching balls is fun, just doing whatever you can to be an athlete, working on hand-eye coordination, and the little things. It never hurts to be able to catch a football," he said.
At last season's Pro Bowl, Watt lined up for a play at wide receiver, to Kubiak's dismay.
"No, I didn't like that, personally," the coach said. "When I saw he was going to line up out there, that scared me a little bit. We'll let him keep getting after the quarterback, and maybe we'll find him a play or two of offense down the road."
Kubiak revealed that the Texans have discussed a goal-line package that would include Watt.
"No, we've talked about it, actually. We talked about a Wisconsin package with him and [tight end] Garrett [Graham] and OD [tight end Owen Daniels] in the game on the goal line. I don't know what part of the Wisconsin package he would play, but we'll see," Kubiak said.
As for Watt's salute, the NFL clarified last week that celebrations such as Watt's nod to the military and other players' spinning of the ball would still be permitted as long as the gestures were not directed at an opponent.
ESPN.com's Tania Ganguli contributed to this report.