HOUSTON — J.J. Watt didn’t just play for the Houston Texans, he was the Houston Texans.

The physical embodiment of a young franchise lacking much of an identity before the burly Wisconsin kid donned that No. 99 jersey, Watt wowed the football world with his defensive prowess.

Now he’s gone, and a team already in the midst of unprecedented upheaval faces a future suddenly even more bleak.

“I have sat down with the McNair family and I have asked them for my release and we have mutually agreed to part ways at this time,” Watt said Friday in a video on social media.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year and 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year has spent his entire career with the Texans after being drafted 11th overall in 2011.