The Tennessee Titans failed to land J.J. Watt in free agency, as he ultimately decided to sign with the Arizona Cardinals, a move nobody saw coming — but even though the future Hall of Famer is out of the AFC South, he isn’t quite out of the hair of the Titans just yet.
Watt, who signed a two-year, $31 million deal with Arizona, will return to Nashville in 2021, as the Cardinals are one of the Titans’ home opponents, with the AFC South and NFC West set to clash next season.
That also means we’ll see Watt against his former mates, the Houston Texans. Both Watt and DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded by Houston last year, will host the Texans in the desert.
Historically, Watt has been a menace against the Titans. In 15 career games, the 31-year-old has 18 sacks, 38 QB hits and 25 of his 64 combined tackles have come for a loss.
source: me. pic.twitter.com/1Y6okQBUy5
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 1, 2021
While there was some hope Watt would come play for the Titans, that didn’t happen, and perhaps it’s for the best.
After all, the contract Watt received was a bit higher than we were personally comfortable with considering his injury history, age and seemingly diminished skills.
Of course, he still would have provided at least somewhat of an upgrade, but there’s no telling exactly how much and giving him such a deal might have hamstrung Tennessee’s attempts to improve elsewhere.
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