Watt in the World? J.J. Watt Signs with Arizona Cardinals

Three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-Pro defensive lineman J.J. Watt announced he is signing with the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, a statement that was shortly followed up by an official decree from the franchise

On Twitter, Watt posted a photo squatting while wearing a Cardinals shirt with the caption, “Source: me.”

The team confirmed the signing in a subsequent press release. 

The contract reportedly spans two years and is worth $31 million with $23 million guaranteed, per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The actually structure and how much is fully guaranteed isn’t known at this time.

Watt will be 32 at the start of the 2021 season. He mutually parted ways with the Houston Texans, the team he was with since 2011, on Feb. 12. 

Soon after, Cardinals receiver and Watt’s former Texans teammate DeAndre Hopkins began the process of recruiting him to Arizona by posting a picture of the two in Cardinals uniforms captioned, “Let’s finish what we started.” Watt will also reunite with former Texans defensive backs coach and Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. 

Watt played 16 games in 2020, just the second time he’s played every game since 2015. He racked up five sacks, 29 quarterback pressures and 14 tackles for loss. 

It was a less productive year compared to some of his dominant earlier seasons, but he still proved that he can reach the quarterback and help contain the run game. Houston was also in a flux last year with a midseason coaching change and a defense that struggled across the board. 

He will join a Cardinals team that has Chandler Jones on the edge at outside linebacker, along with Haason Reddick and Markus Golden, both of whom are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents on March 17. 

Watt also adds to the character of the team as someone who earned both the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year and the Sports Illustrated Person of the Year. 

Watt is the first major free-agent domino to fall in the 2021 class and the Cardinals wasted little time adding him to the roster. 

General manager Steve Keim made a similar shock-wave move in March of last year when he traded for Hopkins and now secures another former Texan that has left the NFL in the same state of bewilderment.