Watt and Cardinals agree to contract
J.J. Watt has agreed to a two-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals.
The team announced the deal with the free-agent edge rusher Monday. Watt was released last month by the Houston Texans, for whom he won three NFL defensive player of the year awards.
A person familiar with the contract told the Associated Press that the total package is worth $31 million. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal any terms. A five-time All-Pro, Watt had one year remaining on a six-year, $100-million contract with the Texans.
Houston released veteran quarterback Josh McCown, likely ending his 18year NFL career . ... Green Bay Packers quarterback and reigning league MVP Aaron Rodgers donated $1 million to help 80 locally owned businesses in Chico. ... The Kansas City Chiefs expect Patrick Mahomes to be ready for offseason workouts after surgery on his toe.
ETC. NIT moves to Texas, limits field
The NIT is moving the entire 2021 event to Texas, taking the semifinals and championship game out of New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball’s oldest postseason
tournament. The pandemic is also reducing the field to 16 teams from the usual 32, and all games are set for the Dallas area.
Former UCLA reserve guard Kevin Williams died Thursday from a heart attack, the school announced. He was 51. Williams averaged 1.7 points and 0.7 rebounds per game during his threeyear career with the Bruins from 1987 to 1990. He was the backup to eventual NBA players Pooh Richardson and Darrick Martin, having been recruited out of Los Angeles Verbum Dei High by UCLA coach Walt Hazzard and playing his final two seasons for coach Jim Harrick.
— Ben Bolch
Michigan took advantage of Baylor’s loss at Kansas to leap into the No. 2 spot behind Gonzaga in the AP men’s college basketball poll. Gonzaga received 59 of 63 first-place votes among national media members. Illinois climbed one spot to fourth, and Iowa gave the
Big Ten three teams in the top five . ... Binghamton announced men’s basketball coach Tommy Dempsey is out after nine years. Assistant Levell Sanders was named interim coach. Dempsey finishes with a 71194 record. Fellow America East Conference coach Will Brown of Albany is also out. ... Texas A&M moved up to No. 2, its highest ranking ever in the women’s AP top 25; Connecticut remains a solid No. 1 . ... Four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird re-signed with the Seattle Storm for what will be her 20th season with the team.
The Kansas City Royals made official their four-year, $25-million contract with third baseman Hunter Dozier . ... The New York Mets will honor the late Tom Seaver by wearing a “41” patch on their home and away jerseys this season.
Novak Djokovic equaled Roger Federer’s record for the most weeks — 310 — spent at No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Federer, meanwhile is withdrawing from this month’s Miami Open . ... Jennifer Brady lost her first match since the Australian Open final, falling to Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Qatar Open . ... Top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova was knocked out of the Lyon Open in France in the opening round by 139th-ranked Clara Tauson of Denmark . ... American teenager Coco Gauff rose from No. 52 to a career-best No. 38 by making it to the semifinals in Adelaide.
Jonathan Suarez’s contract was terminated by Major League Soccer’s Orlando City following his and his brother’s arrest last week of allegedly sexually assaulting a woman . ... Russia moved a step closer to having its longstanding suspension from track and field lifted after a new plan of doping reforms was approved by World Athletics . ... Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc were added to the U.S. team for the World Figure Skating Championships, replacing Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson . ... Iran’s suspension from international judo events for refusing to let its athletes fight Israeli opponents was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport . ... The British government will provide 2.8 million pounds ($4 million) to pursue a five-nation bid for a 2030 World Cup with Ireland. ... AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a former Galaxy star, is out again with an injury and could miss his team’s Europa League match against Manchester United.