JJ Watt: ‘Incredible’ Burnley boss Vincent Kompany seeks NFL insight for edge in set pieces (video)

There are not a ton of similarities between American football and soccer, but there are always things to learn from one another when superstars like JJ Watt and Vincent Kompany come together.

Watt, the retired 7x NFL All-Pro, is now an investor in Burnley and has gotten to know Clarets manager Vincent Kompany a bit.

[ MORE: Premier League table — Standings from 2023-24 season ]

And, believe it or not, there’s even room for clarification between the two outstanding defenders across the National Football League and Premier League.

Watt joined NBC’s Premier League Mornings Crew on Saturday to speak about a number of things, and dropped this fascinating tidbit about Kompany’s curiosity.

“It’s incredible,” Watt said of Kompany. “He’s brilliant. One of the things that stands out to me is how confident he is and how humble he is because he can be that confident. He is so smart and so knowledgeable but he’s always trying to learn.”

“I was literally on the phone with him yesterday and he said he wanted to set up a call for next week during international break because he wants to talk about similarities between NFL set plays and set pieces in the Premier League. He may get one tiny morsel of information he can then use, but he’s always trying to improve and I’ve loved all of our conversations because I feel like I get better.”

Burnley

“Things like set pieces are where you can have a little of that crossover. There’s blocking. It’s funny. My wife being such a brilliant player. He’ll send me the clips and I’ll ask why we can’t do this, and she’ll explain why.”

It looks like Burnley’s going to need every bit of edge to survive the Premier League gauntlet this season, but Kompany has been known as a brilliant student and player for as long as he’s played and it’s not a surprise to hear he’s using every resource available to him, including Watt and his wife Kealia, the longtime National Women’s Soccer League defender.