JJ Watt Agrees to Terms with Cardinals

The 2020 NFL offseason was defined by a surprising move in March from an elite Houston Texan making his way to Arizona. 

It’s a bit of deja vu in 2021.

A year after Arizona traded for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins – who caught 115 passes for 1,407 yards in his debut season – defensive end J.J. Watt signed a two-year deal with the Cardinals on Monday and broke the news on Twitter.

source: me. pic.twitter.com/1Y6okQBUy5

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 1, 2021

Watt requested his release from Houston in February and had plenty of fun of social media fueling rumors on where his next home would be. It’s a reported two-year deal for $31 million dollars and $23 million is guaranteed.

The 31-year-old is a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. The five-time All-Pro has a career 101 sacks, 25 forced fumbles, 172 tackles for loss and 531 tackles over 10 years. 

The Cardinal front seven will look revamped not only from Watt but from Chandler Jones, who only played in five games before having season-ending surgery to repair his right bicep. 

There are plenty of questions that still remain for the future of the Cardinal defense. There were reports that the team and Patrick Peterson would part ways, although nothing is official. Haason Reddick is coming off a career-changing contract year. There are plenty of veterans like Devon Kennard and DeVondre Campbell who could be cut as well. 

Those questions will need to be answered, but for now, the Cardinals know they have two of the league’s elite defensive players inn their front seven.