Ex-Texan J.J. Watt announces surprise signing with Arizona Cardinals

The NFC West continues to drive the 2021 NFL offseason’s drama: the Arizona Cardinals have landed free agent star defensive end J.J. Watt.

Watt, 31, a five-time All-Pro and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is signing a two-year, $31 million contract that includes $23 million guaranteed, per multiple reports.

Watt announced his new destination on Twitter with a photo of himself lifting weights in a Cardinals T-shirt.

“Source: me,” Watt wrote.

Watt recently asked the Houston Texans for his release, and the team interestingly obliged — rather than seeking a trade — clearing $17.5 million in cap space off the final year of his contract.

That made Watt a free agent immediately, so he didn’t need to wait until the start of the new league year on March 17 to hit the market and sign somewhere else.

Watt was one of many Texans players disenfranchised with the Texans’ direction and leadership. He was recorded on camera apologizing to Deshaun Watson for wasting one of the quarterback’s prime years while walking off the field late last season.

Watson now refuses to play for the Texans and has demanded a trade.

In the meantime, Watt will reunite with former Texans teammate DeAndre Hopkins, the star receiver traded to Arizona in March 2020 by former Houston coach Bill O’Brien.

Watt isn’t playing at the same level now that he was while winning the DPOY award in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Houston’s defense actually was one of the NFL’s worst last season. So it is a surprise the Cardinals agreed to pay Watt so much, particularly with the salary cap going down.

But the potential return could be great, pairing Watt and elite Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones. It’s only the latest major news coming out of the NFC West to shift the league’s landscape.

Watt chose the Cardinals despite the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills all being tied to him as potential destinations in his brief free agency tour.

The West’s L.A. Rams already agreed to a deal with the Detroit Lions to acquire QB Matt Stafford, sending QB Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third back to Detroit.

And Seahawks QB Russell Wilson appears to favor a trade — though he hasn’t formally requested one — to one of four teams: the New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders or Chicago Bears.

In the NFC East, the Eagles also have agreed to trade Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts of the AFC South for a third-rounder and a conditional second.

But the West is dominating the NFL’s early offseason headlines, with the official start of free agency still two weeks away.