Cardinals

lion, including $23 million in guaranteed salary.

That’s enormous money, more than the Cardinals threw at Suggs. But the risk this time feels more than worth it, especially when one considers the player, the person, the leadership and the impact that Watt brings to a team with the longest active playoff drought (five years) among any franchise in the NFC.

Suggs was substance.

Suggs was a fun guy in the locker room and had a wonderful personality, but his short stay with the Cardinals felt forced and uncomfortable at times. He frequently refused interview requests, seemed to prefer to live in the background and let others speak and lead. The “sizzle” was long gone.

Watt, the former Walter Payton Man of the Year and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, can make a far greater impact both on and off the field. For the past 10 years, he was the face of the Houston Texans and their ultimate ambassador. He became one of the NFL’s most feared and revered defensive stars and a warrior when it comes to humanitarian efforts.

Watt makes it his business to be “involved” and he’s always been an “allin” type of person, whether it was trying to salvage splits in the Texans’ locker room caused by former general manager and head coach Bill O’Brian and others, or leading a fundraising effort that generated $40 million to help Houston recover from Hurricane Harvey.

Adding a magnetic man of that character to a Cardinals team that lacked discipline this past season and appeared to not get enough out of its own leadership from within is a massive upgrade. Imagine how important Watt’s presence will be if General Manager Steve Keim doesn’t re-sign cornerback Patrick Peterson or if wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald decides to retire.

The addition of Watt, in fact, might very well lead to Peterson accepting some sort of a hometown discount to return for an 11th season in Arizona and it could also be the very thing that makes Fitzgerald decide to stay for an 18th season with the Cardinals.

And just think how it could — and should — improve the defense for coordinator Vance Joseph while also

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brings opening more pass-rushing opportunities for Jones, whose 97 sacks since entering the league in 2012 are the most in the NFL over that span.

Watt has registered 951⁄2 sacks during that time frame, which ranks second only to Jones. Between the two of them, they have a combined 1,142 quarterback pressures in their career. According to ProFootballFocus, that’s the most by any active edge-rushing tandem and it could be just the thing that helps put the Cardinals over the hump and back into the postseason for the first time since 2015.

Though Watt has built his Hall of Fame credentials as a traditional threepoint defensive end, it will be interesting to see if Joseph and the Cardinals shift him to outside linebacker opposite Jones to maximize each of the players’ own skill sets as pure pass rushers. Should that be the case, the Cardinals could decide not to re-sign one or both of two other outside linebackers set to become unrestricted free agents — Haason Reddick and Markus Golden.

Technically, the Cardinals still have defensive end Jordan Phillips under contract and a promising third-year pro there as well in Zach Allen. Wherever Watt gets his snaps, he will be a handful for opposing offenses. He’s the only player in NFL history with multiple seasons of 20 or more sacks (2012, 2014) and although his five sacks in 2020 were a career low for a year in which he played a full season, his 17 quarterback hits would have led all Cardinals’ players.

As for Watt’s injury history, yes, it could be cause for some concern. He’s missed 32 games the past five years, but they haven’t been the lingering kind that he can’t shake. They were three specific issues that were unrelated — a back injury in 2016, a fractured leg in 2017 and a torn pectoral muscle in 2019. In seven of his 10 NFL seasons overall, he started, played and finished all 16 regular-season games.

The injuries being what they were, it’s important to remember that after Watt and the Texans mutually agreed to part ways last month, he was still among the NFL’s most-coveted free agents this offseason. And as soon as he became available and was free to sign with any team he liked, the Cardinals didn’t wait to pounce.

This acquisition was awfully reminiscent of the blockbuster trade they pulled off with the Texas a year ago for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. That move continues to look more and more like grand larceny.