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.
J.J. Watt was double-teamed as an edge rusher 30% of the time in 2020, the highest rate among qualifiers. https://t.co/ClqFBMTktG
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) March 1, 2021
Most sacks in the NFL since the start of 2012:
1. Chandler Jones: 97
2. JJ Watt: 95.5Now teammates in Arizona.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 1, 2021
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.
This sack of Ryan Tannehill in Week 6, which led to a forced fumble, was an exceedingly ugly rep for left tackle Ty Sambrailo. You can’t be late to your set like this against someone of Watt’s ability to generate power at the turn, and this screams sack all the way. Yes, it’s an all-out blitz, but Sambrailo just gets nuked on this one-on-one. The Titans, who have their own pass-rush issues, should be on the phone with Watt’s agent with quickness and intensity.
Speaking of power at the turn, there’s this sack of Philip Rivers in Week 15. This time, left tackle Chaz Green is Watt’s Huckleberry, and watch how Watt just long-arms Green into the pocket, swims his way around the blocker, and finds Rivers for the takedown.
Watt sacked Lamar Jackson twice in Week 2. The second came in a wide alignment against right tackle Orlando Brown, who at least gets his feet to the target, but isn’t as aggressive with his hands as he should be. What you still see from Watt, over and over, is a furious desire to take merciless advantage of any blocker’s weak points.
So, the fact that the Texans let J.J. Watt walk has a great deal more to do with the Texans’ own dysfunction (and Watt’s $17.5 million cap hit in the final year of his contract) than any hint of “doneness” with Watt’s talent. As a multi-gap enforcer with actual talent around him, Watt could well be ready to end his remarkable career with quite the Renaissance.
What does this do for the Cardinals? Well, Golden and Reddick are impending free agents, so his addition could take the sting out of any departures. In addition, Joseph might not have to blitz as much as he did in 2020 to create pressure, which would be an absolute boon for a secondary that was overmatched in 2020 far more often than it was not.
In Kliff Kingsbury’s two seasons as the Cardinals’ head coach, Arizona’s defense has allowed 64 passing touchdowns, and picked off just 17 passes. Patrick Peterson, the longtime legend of Arizona’s secondary, is also set to become a free agent, and allowed five touchdowns to three picks in 2020. 2019 second-round cornerback Byron Murphy has allowed 12 touchdowns to just one interception in his brief career. Veteran Dre Kirkpatrick was the only cornerback on the roster who put up a credible performance, and until that changes, it doesn’t matter how dynamic Kingsbury’s offense is — he’s going to be scheming from behind more often than not.
So, in addition to adding more and better cornerbacks in free agency, the addition of Watt — if he’s able to play at a plus level — gives the team more options to build a defense that, matched with the ideal version of Kingsbury’s offense, might just push this franchise over the top in the NFC West and beyond.
