Cardinals all-out recruiting pitch brings Watt to the desert

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — J.J. Watt didn't lack for suitors when deciding where to continue his spectacular football career. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year said there were four or five teams seriously in the hunt.

But the more he looked at his options, the more the Arizona Cardinals made sense.

They had a young, talented quarterback in Kyler Murray. They had his old buddy from the Texans, DeAndre Hopkins, one of the top receivers in the league. They had defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, for whom he played in Houston early in his career and admires.

There were also those pictures that everyone in the Cardinals organization kept sending him of Paradise Valley.

“I'm not going to lie to you," Watt said on Tuesday. "It doesn't hurt when it's 65 degrees and sunny outside when I woke up this morning. It's pretty nice.”

A five-time All-Pro, Watt, who turns 32 in a few weeks, has been one of the NFL’s best players for a decade with the Houston Texans, but asked out in Houston, which is undergoing a roster upheaval. A person familiar with his two-year contract told The Associated Press that the total package is worth $31 million.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal any terms.

The contract was a coup for the Cardinals, who are trying to break a five-year playoff drought. They finished 8-8 in 2020, losing five of their last seven games to fall just short of the postseason. Watt's been slowed by injuries over the past few seasons, but when asked how much gas he has left in the tank, he responded: “A lot. A whole lot.”

Watt said he's happy to contribute off-the-field leadership at this stage of his career, but the biggest thing that will help push the Cardinals back to the playoffs is his production.

“It’s tackles...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cardinals-all-out-recruiting-pitch-brings-Watt-to-15994525.php