USA TODAY International Edition
10 NFL teams where Watt might fit in next season
Steelers, Bucs, Packers? Plus, Freeman column: JJ leaving because staying unthinkable.
JJ Watt will be 32 next month, but the man can still move. Heck, he just beat a guy more than six years his junior, Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, out of Houston.
Watt’s best years are almost certainly behind him, and there was definitely no Super Bowl trophy in front of him had he remained with the Texans, who drafted him 11th overall in 2011 but are currently an organization seemingly in complete disarray. But now, by forfeiting what would have been a $ 17.5 million nonguaranteed salary in 2021 with Friday’s release – a move that simultaneously helps extricate Houston from its salary cap issues – Watt has the freedom to sign with any team immediately rather than wait for the start of NFL free agency March 17, when the contracts of pending free agents officially expire.
So where does Watt, one of three men in NFL history to win defensive player of the year three times ( along with Lawrence Taylor and Aaron Donald), go next? A number of factors are likely to be in play.
h Watt left a lot of money on the table to leave the Texans and surely knows he can no longer command top dollar at his age after coming off the least productive full season of his 10- year career.
Houston had never won a playoff game prior to Watt’s arrival in 2011. But starting in his rookie season, when Watt returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown to help beat the Bengals in the wild- card round, the Texans won four playoff games. He’ll surely be looking for a team he believes can win now.
h Watt spent most of his career as a left defensive end, often devouring helpless right tackles, in Houston’s base 3- 4 defense. Though scheme fit for his next team will surely be a consideration for both sides, it seems unlikely to be the overriding determination.
With those thoughts in mind, here are 10 teams ( listed alphabetically) that could be fits, some better than others.
Ravens: Matt Judon, their leading sack man each of the past two seasons, is headed for free agency and seeking a contract that will average $ 20 million annually, per ESPN. Watt could be a far more cost- effective option, especially if he falls into more of a rotational role on passing downs. Quarterbacks wouldn’t enjoy staring across the line of scrimmage and seeing Watt and Calais Campbell, even at their advanced ages.
Bills: A marriage between Watt and a Western New York community saturated with Bills Mafia would surely be a happy ( if brief ) one. Buffalo, which finished one win shy of the Super Bowl last season, didn’t have a player with more than five sacks on a middling defense. Watt’s five sacks in 2020 were his fewest over a 16- game season. However, his 17 quarterback hits would have easily paced the Bills, who would have to make some cap room to accommodate him.
Bears: They were a wild- card team in 2020 but don’t have available cap space right now ... or a good idea who their quarterback will be in 2021. But the Bears do provide the unique opportunity to play in the Windy City – where Watt’s wife, Kealia, is a member of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Chicago Red Stars. Watt probably also wouldn’t mind a defensive union with Bears OLB Khalil Mack.
Browns: A team that took a quantum leap in 2020 under coach of the year Kevin Stefanski could use help on a defense that ranked 22nd against the pass. Imagine the damage Watt could do playing opposite All- Pro DE Myles Garrett and alongside disruptive DT Sheldon Richardson. And given the way the Browns’ run- heavy offense can both milk and control the clock, Watt wouldn’t find that he has to play nearly as many snaps.
Packers: Green Bay has massive cap issues, roughly $ 28 million overspent at present, per Over The Cap, a figure the Packers will have to reduce to zero by March 17. But they also represent a singular chance for Watt, a proud Badger, to return to his native Wisconsin. And given how this defense was exposed in the last two NFC championship games, adding Watt might be a very nice way to give league MVP Aaron Rodgers help at a discount.
Rams: They boast the league’s No. 1 defense and are clearly going after the brass ring following their damn- thetorpedoes trade for QB Matthew Stafford. A pairing of Donald and Watt is not only extremely tantalizing, but perhaps wholly necessary given OLB Leonard Floyd, Los Angeles’ No. 2 sack man in 2020, is poised to cash in during free agency – an arena where the Rams don’t seem able to compete for prime talent given they’re $ 27 million in the red capwise.
Steelers: They wouldn’t make a ton of sense for Watt schematically or from a cap standpoint given Pittsburgh needs to shed about $ 32 million to be compliant by the time the new league year starts. But if a scenario arises for JJ to join his brothers, OLB T. J. Watt and FB Derek Watt, in Pittsburgh with the reigning AFC North champions, is he going to say no?
Seahawks: They haven’t had a premier edge rusher since the days of Michael Bennett and Frank Clark and relied heavily on S Jamal Adams to create havoc in 2020, when his 9 1⁄ sacks es
2 tablished a single- season league record for defensive backs. But it would make more sense to get pressure up front from Watt and not expose the back end so regularly by bringing Adams into the box. An acquisition of Watt’s caliber might mollify suddenly publicly disgruntled QB Russell Wilson, a University of Wisconsin product like Watt.
Buccaneers: Why not help the Bucs run it back? Rickey Jackson, Neil Smith and DeMarcus Ware are just a few alltime great pass rushers who switched teams late in their careers to successfully snatch a first Super Bowl ring. Tampa Bay has nearly $ 30 million in available cap space, though it faces decisions on what to do about soon- to- be free agents like OLB Shaq Barrett, WR Chris Godwin and DL Ndamukong Suh. Regardless, Watt seems like an ideal short- term fit for a group of mercenaries in win immediately mode.
Titans: AFC finalists in 2019 and AFC South champions in 2020, they seem close to a breakthrough – especially if they can upgrade a pass rush that managed only 19 sacks last season. Going to Nashville, Tennessee, would reunite Watt with coach Mike Vrabel, his defensive coordinator in Houston in 2017, and allow him two opportunities to play the division rival Texans in 2021.