JJ Watt Signs For Arizona Cardinals

Star defensive end JJ Watt is set to move to the Arizona Cardinals following his departure from Houston after ten years with the Texans.

Watt took the abnormal approach of announcing the news himself, posting a picture of himself wearing a Cardinals top on Twitter alongside the words ‘source: me’.

Early reports suggest that the Cardinals are giving Watt a two-year, $31 million deal that includes $23 million guaranteed. The 31-year-old is linking up in Phoenix with former teammate DeAndre Hopkins, who joined the Cardinals from Houston a year earlier.

After owner Michael Bidwill flew out to pick Watt up and bring him back to Arizona, Watt said he was “just excited to get started, to get to work and get to know the people of Arizona.”

“The one thing I can promise (the fans) is that I’m going to work my ass off every day to make you proud,” Watt added.

Watt has been named NFL Defensive Player of the Year on three separate occasions as well as being a first-team All-Pro five times and winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2017 after raising more than $37 million for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

The defensive end left the Texans as their all-time leader in sacks with 101, tackles for loss (172), quarterback hits (282) and forced fumbles (25). He has 531 career tackles, 61 passes defended and 16 fumble recoveries since the Texans made him the No 11 overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Since Watt announced his intentions to leave Houston shortly after the end of the NFL season, rumours of his destination have been rife among fans and the NFL media. Many expected the soon-to-be 32-year-old to move to an obvious Super Bowl challenger, but Watt claimed the Cardinals put together the strongest recruiting pitch.

“The recruiting pitch was strong and heavy (for the Cardinals), but at the end of the day, I told my wife, all signs just kept pointing back here to Arizona,” Watt said.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” he added, “it doesn’t hurt when it is 65 degrees and sunny when I woke up this morning.”

Cardinals cornerback Johnathan Joseph, who spent nine seasons as Watt’s teammate and friend in Houston, said on Sirius XM NFL radio he had multiple conversations with Watt about his free agency and about the Cardinals.

“It’s a perfect situation for him,” Joseph said.

“But make no mistake, I’m here to dominate on the field and help us win games,” Watt said.

With the Cardinals missing the playoffs last year with a record of 8-8, Watt was asked what the team’s expectations are and how far away he thought they were from a Super Bowl.

“How far away? A few months,” Watt said. “You have to get to the season before you get to the playoffs, right? … We have one goal in mind. You don’t set your goal for the championship four, five, six years down the road. You set it for this year.”

Watt has become synonymous with the number 99 after his decade stint in Houston but was prepared to change his jersey number as the Cardinals have retired the 99, in honor of franchise legend Marshall Goldberg.

However, it was announced that 99 will be unretired for Watt after he received permission from Goldberg’s daughter, Ellen Goldberg Tullos, to wear it on the field.

“We had a great conversation,” Watt said. “She was super sweet. She said that she believes her father would be honored, and that he was all about the players. So she thought he would want me to wear it.”

Watt said he plans to make a charitable donation to the Marshall Goldberg Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury Research, which was established because Goldberg dealt with the effect of concussions.

Watt also said he intends to spread awareness about Goldberg’s life, which was impressive to say the least.

“I want to make sure that people know the name, and are aware of Marshall Goldberg and everything he did,” Watt said. “I told (Tullos) I would do everything in my power to honor him and make him proud, and make his legacy proud,” Watt said.

“I would imagine I’ll be following it a little bit more closely than I have in the past,” Tullos said. “My father passed away in 2006, and that was a while ago. Now J.J. is kind of bringing his number back to life.

“I know that (Dad) was a real team player,” Tullos said. “If he had known that somebody had been using the No. 99 throughout their career and it meant something dear to them, and they wanted to continue it and bring it to the Cardinals, I think he would have been just fine with letting them do that.”