Sports are businesses, and as such, they are always looking for “sure things”. In horse racing it comes down to bloodlines -- horses that are descended from past greats always fetch higher prices because of the possibility of inherited greatness.
Though they are less explicit about it, football evaluators pay attention to genetics as well, and few things can get ears perked up like a famous last name. So when Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt declared for the draft, pretty much everyone started paying attention. He might not be as big as his older brother, J.J. Watt, but with the name comes potential.