JJ Watt Officially Announces Retirement After the Season
Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J.Watt announced on Tuesday that the 2022-23 NFL season will be his last. Watt is a first-ballot Hall of Famer as his accolades show with five Pro Bowl appearances, five All-Pro selections, three Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner.
He is one of three players to ever win the Defensive Player of the Year Award three different times as Lawrence Taylor and Aaron Donald are the other two.
Looking at his career numbers, he has played 149 games with 111.5 career sacks and 27 forced fumbles with two weeks left in his career. He began his career with five straight years without missing a single game. However, health has been an issue as he has played more than eight games just three times (including this season) in his last seven seasons.
He began his career with the Houston Texans as he was drafted by the team in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He finished with a career-high 20.5 sacks in the 2012 season to win his first Defensive Player of the Year Award and continued to be a force on that defensive line throughout his career as he ended up winning three DPOY awards in a four-year span.
Watt was released by the Texans organization after the 2020 season when he requested the move, and instead of trading him for pieces, the organization fulfilled his wishes as he later signed with the Arizona Cardinals. He has been a good force with the Cardinals as in 21 career games, he has recorded 10.5 sacks and added another pass-rusher to bolster the team.
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What is the outlook for the rest of the season for the Arizona Cardinals?
The Arizona Cardinals are not going to be making the postseason as they are currently 4-11 so far this season and eliminated from postseason contention. They wrap up the regular season with a Week 17 road game against the Atlanta Falcons and a Week 18 road game against the San Francisco 49ers.
The team is going to be without quarterback Kyler Murray as he suffered a torn ACL on December 12, so there are a lot of question marks heading into the offseason on how this team will look on next season.
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