Cardinals agree to terms with freeagent Watt
J.J. Watt has agreed to a twoyear contract with the Arizona Cardinals, showing that the franchise will be aggressive once again in its push to snap a playoff drought that has reached five years.
The team announced the deal with the freeagent 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 said the total package is worth $31 million. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal terms.
A fivetime AllPro, Watt — who turns 32 in three weeks — has been one of the NFL’s best players for a decade, but asked out of Houston, which is undergoing a roster upheaval. Watt joins another former Texans mainstay, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, in Arizona. Hopkins was acquired by the Cardinals in a onesided trade a year ago.
Watt had one year remaining on a sixyear, $100 million contract with the Texans.
Watt’s signing is an indication that the Cardinals are willing to spend money in their effort to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. They finished with an 88 record in 2020, losing five of their last seven games to fall just short of the postseason.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph can add Watt to a group that has edge rusher Chandler Jones, who had 19 sacks in 2019 before his 2020 season was cut short by a biceps injury.
Watt’s arrival certainly will ratchet up the pressure on thirdyear Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who wasn’t quite able to push the Cardi
nals into the postseason in 2020. Kingsbury, known for his offensive acumen, was brought in to mentor 2019 No. 1 overall pick quarterback Kyler Murray, but now the defense might be just as important to the Cardinals’ success.
Though he has been plagued by injuries in recent years, Watt started all 128 games in which he appeared in the past 10 years after entering the league as Houston’s firstround selection, 11th overall, in the 2011 draft out of Wisconsin.
He was the league’s top defensive player in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Then injuries began to slow him. He appeared in only three games in 2016 and five the next season, sidelined by back problems and then a broken leg. In 2019, Watt missed half of the schedule with a torn pectoral muscle.
Herman to Chicago: The Bears hired former Texas head coach Tom Herman in an analyst role on Matt Nagy’s staff, his first NFL job after more than two decades of college coaching. Herman led Texas to a 3218 record and four bowl wins the past four seasons. But he failed to deliver a Big 12 title or lead the Longhorns into national championship contention and got fired in January, with Steve Sarkisian replacing him.