Arizona Cardinals DE JJ Watt has announced he will be retiring at the end of the season.
Watt, 33, made the announcement via social media Tuesday morning:
With only two games remaining on the Cardinals schedule, Watt will travel to Atlanta before closing out his career vs. the 49ers in San Francisco on January 8th.
The 6’5” Wisconsin alum was a 1st round draft pick (11th overall) of the Houston Texans in 2011. After spending the first 10 years of his career with Houston, Watt signed a 2yr/$28M contract with the Arizona Cardinals in March of 2021.
Watt’s career accolades put him on a short list to become a future NFL Hall of Famer. Amongst his notable achievements were a Walter Payton Man of the Year award, 3x Defensive Player of the Year selection, 7x All-Pro, 2x Sack Leader, 5x Pro Bowler, and he was selected to the NFL’s All Decade team for the 2010s.
His 111.5 career sacks put him 26th all time on the NFL’s all-time list, but his 9.5 sacks in 2022 show he still has gas left in the tanks as he’s enjoyed a productive season in the desert. Watt also holds the record for most 20+ sack seasons in league history as well, as he will retire as one of the pre-eminent pass rushers of the 21st century.
But for those who know Watt well, he will say that while the accolades are nice, one of his most proud moments was helping to raise $41.6M for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in 2017. An effort that earned him the Walter Payton MOTY award while with the Texans.
While his retirement may come as a shock to some, the writing may have been on the wall following the Cardinals home loss to the Buccaneers in Week 16. A visibly emotional Watt could be seen walking off the field in what will now go down as the final home game of his illustrious career.
Watt would have likely commanded significant interest as a free agent in the offseason, however he’s chosen to walk away on his own terms to spend time with his young family and maintain his health.
While a trip to Canton, OH is likely in his future, Watt is also expected to be a highly coveted name as an analyst/announcer for major sports networks should he decide to pursue that avenue.
With the Cardinals officially eliminated from the postseason, JJ will hang up his cleats for the final time at Levi’s Stadium in a little over 2 weeks time.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Jeffrey Beall. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.