JJ Watt signs with AZ

carrrnuttt

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J.J. Watt went to great lengths to keep his news quiet until he announced it himself

J.J. Watt did something not many players have ever done. He made his own free agent announcement.

“Take control of your own narrative,” Watt said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.

No reporter was tipped off, and the Cardinals didn’t beat him to the punch. The defensive end took no chances, though, even using subterfuge in his T-shirt order.

Watt ordered T-shirts for the final “four or five” teams in his search, ensuring he would be ready come decision time. But Watt, conscious that news of Patrick Mahomes‘ record extension with the Chiefs last summer was leaked by a liquor store clerk, took no chances.

In fact, Watt went to great lengths to ensure no one at an Amazon fulfillment center would put two and two together. He asked his brother’s high school friend to order the shirts with the friend’s credit card and had the delivery going to the friend’s house to throw anyone off his trail.

“This is kind of funny,” Watt said. “It’s kind of stupid, too, but whatever.”

It worked as Watt broke his own news on social media Monday, posting a photo of him under a squat bar while wearing a Cardinals’ shirt.

“We kept it very quiet,” Watt said. “There were a lot of rumors and reports. It was funny to sit back and watch it all play out. At the end, when I decided Arizona was the place, we realized how quiet it had truly been on that front.”

Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim put a full-court press on Watt, using celebrities Frank Caliendo and Blake Shelton to woo Watt. It also didn’t hurt that Arizona seemingly made the biggest offer as Watt signed a two-year, $31 million deal.

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Rapoport provides no specifics regarding the amount fully guaranteed at signing. Our guess is that the first year is fully guaranteed ($14.5 million) and that the remaining $8.5 million in “guaranteed” money is guaranteed for injury only for now, with a likely conversion to a full guarantee at some point in March 2021. That would allow the Cardinals to move on, making it a one-year, $14.5 million deal, if Watt can pass a physical before the full guarantee vests next year.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/two-years-dollar28-million-for-jj-watt/ar-BB1ecASY
 

slanidrac16

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Golden has proven he can sacks in this league, over multiple years, with two different teams. He won't be expensive. He and garden should be back
He also proved to follow the rb into the line even though he doesn’t have the ball while opening up the entire side of his contain.
 

GuernseyCard

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I gave up years ago trying to figure out cap stuff. So is Gambo's 4.9 million number wrong?

Breer is outlining the basic parameters of the deal and what JJ will pocket or potentially so.

How the Cards choose to account for it under the cap is a separate issue.
 

Dr. Jones

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I want to know about the voidable years. We seem to prefer that as a way to spread the bonus out over more years than the actual contract. Like we did for Campbell's contract last year.

So in short, it could be 4.5mm hit if the bonus is paid out in a smart way.
 

daves

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If Gambodoro is right about a $4.9M cap hit in 2021, and the other info here & elsewhere that lists $14.5M guaranteed and a $2.5M salary in 2021 are all correct, that implies a $12M signing bonus is being spread out over 5 years ($2.4M per year for the bonus, plus $2.5M salary in 2021). So, 3 voidable years.

Not certain this is correct, just trying to make all the reported numbers make sense together.

...dave
 

Dr. Jones

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If Gambodoro is right about a $4.9M cap hit in 2021, and the other info here & elsewhere that lists $14.5M guaranteed and a $2.5M salary in 2021 are all correct, that implies a $12M signing bonus is being spread out over 5 years ($2.4M per year for the bonus, plus $2.5M salary in 2021). So, 3 voidable years.

Not certain this is correct, just trying to make all the reported numbers make sense together.

...dave
This certainly makes a lot of sense. Thanks Dave
 

Morty

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Reggie was the best DLineman I've ever seen & I've seen a ton of them. People forget how massively strong he was. I would argue that he was the best defensive player ever at ANY position.
I recall a game he had a cast on one hand. He basically, threw the offensive linemen out of his way with one hand and sacked the QB. Just brute force.
 

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