Tag: j.j. watt stats

Why the addition of J.J. Watt could push the Arizona Cardinals over the top

Now that the Cardinals have added J.J. Watt, it’s not to early to speculate that it’s the move that could guide them to an NFC West title.

When the Texans released J.J. Watt on February 12, several other NFL teams jumped in as potential suitors, with the Browns, Packers, and Titans among the most-mentioned. If the Cardinals were among those in the running, we certainly didn’t hear it from a lot of “insider” reports. But from under the radar they come — on Monday, the Cards signed Watt to a two-year, $31 million deal that includes $23 million in guaranteed money.

For the Cardinals, who ranked fourth in the NFL last season with 48 sacks, fourth in the NFL in blitz rate at 39.4%, and had the fifth-most total pressures with 169 in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s multi-faceted fronts, the addition of Watt is yet another cog in a pressure defense that ranked ninth in Pass Defense DVOA despite a defensive backfield that was a distinct liability last season.

Injuries have complicated Watt’s overall legacy over the last few seasons, and he has amassed just nine sacks in the last two seasons, but as is the case with sack totals in any instance, that doesn’t tell the whole story. In 2020, Watt also had 11 quarterback hits, 29 quarterback hurries, and 34 stops on a defensive line that wasn’t exactly packed with other stars. Last season, the Texans had 33 solo sacks (middle of the pack) and 211 total pressures (sixth-worst in the league), which means that Watt had 21.3% of the team’s total pressures.

That will no longer be a problem for Watt; the presence of edge-rusher Chandler Jones alone will give Watt more opportunities to find single teams among blockers and more pressure opportunities.

As it turns out, this is kind of a big deal.

To narrow it down to just the last three seasons, only Aaron Donald, T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Cameron Jordan, and Za’Darius Smith have more sacks than Jones since 2018. The Cardinals also made the most of their fast, athletic linebackers and edge defenders (Hasson Reddick, Markus Golden, Dennis Gardeck), who combined for 22.5 sacks and 40 quarterback hits. Jones played in just five games and had just one sack in 2020 after putting up nine sacks in 2019, so expect a big rebound season there.

How does Watt make this all better? Though he wasn’t often used as an interior disruptor with Houston last season, he’s been dominant in that role before, and one could argue that at his age (he’ll turn 32 on March 22), Watt could benefit from more snaps inside the tackles, as they generally present fewer steps to the opposing quarterback. As to the injury history, Watt played 1,016 total snaps in 2020, his highest total since 2016, when he amassed 1,026 snaps. If he can keep that up through the next few seasons, the Cardinals got themselves quite the bargain.

In 2020, per Pro Football Focus, Watt played 702 snaps at LEO, 134 snaps at REO, 90 snaps at left end, and 32 snaps at right end. He played just 10 snaps at defensive left tackle, eight at right defensive tackle, 10 at any kind of nose tackle, and a handful of snaps as an off-ball linebacker.

Does he still have what it takes as a potentially dominant edge guy for the next few seasons? Per the tape, the answer is: Absolutely, unequivocally, yes. Add in the multi-gap potential, and we’ve got liftoff in the Valley of the Sun.

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