When J.J. Watt left Houston on March 1, 2021, it marked the end of an era for the Texans.
Watt wasn’t just a face of the franchise-he was the franchise. A three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a relentless force on the field, and a community icon off it, Watt’s departure to the Arizona Cardinals on a two-year, $28 million deal was a tough pill to swallow for Texans fans.
There were no hard feelings-just the bittersweet reality that one of the NFL’s most dominant defenders wouldn’t finish his career where it started.
But as it turns out, Watt’s journey to Arizona wasn’t his first choice.
In a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Watt opened up about his free agency process in 2021-and dropped a bit of a bombshell. He wanted to go home. Specifically, he wanted to play for the Green Bay Packers.
“I wanted to play for the Packers in free agency,” Watt said. “I wanted to go to Green Bay. They were not interested.”
Let that sink in for a second. One of the most decorated defensive players of his generation-born and raised in Wisconsin, a University of Wisconsin alum, and a lifelong Packers fan-was ready to take a significant hometown discount just for the chance to wear green and gold. And the Packers didn’t even put a number on the table.
“I told my agent, ‘I don’t care what the number is, I don’t care how low it is, tell me what it is so I can at least consider it,’” Watt explained. “I said, ‘I’m not saying there’s a guarantee to take it, but if it’s $2 million, if it’s $4 million, whatever the number is, put it in front of me so that I can at least consider it against all these options.’ And they said, ‘We can’t get a number.’”
For Watt, this wasn’t just about football. This was personal.
He grew up idolizing Reggie White, arguably the greatest free-agent signing in NFL history and a Packers legend. Watt saw himself in that lineage, and the idea of following in those footsteps clearly meant something.
“That’s where I grew up. I watched Reggie White,” Watt said.
“That would be incredible. I said I’d take a significant hometown discount to play there, but I just needed to know what that looked like so I could at least consider it against all options.
I was not given a number to consider.”
It’s a surprising revelation, especially considering where the Packers were at that point in time. Green Bay was in full-on win-now mode.
Aaron Rodgers was playing some of the best football of his career, fresh off an MVP season. The team was knocking on the door of a Super Bowl.
And here was Watt, a future Hall of Famer, offering to join the cause at a bargain price.
And yet, nothing.
Watt even said that an offer in the range of $5 million per year could’ve sealed the deal. That’s a steal for a player of his caliber-even in the back half of his career.
And as it turned out, Watt still had plenty left in the tank. He made an impact in Arizona, showing flashes of the disruptive force that terrorized quarterbacks for a decade in Houston.
In hindsight, it’s hard not to wonder what might’ve been. Watt lining up in Lambeau, chasing a ring with Rodgers, playing for the team he grew up cheering for-it would’ve been a storybook chapter in a legendary career. Instead, the Packers passed, and Watt took his talents to the desert.
There’s no bitterness in Watt’s voice-just a hint of what could’ve been. And for Packers fans, it’s a missed opportunity that lingers. Not just because of what Watt could’ve brought to the field, but because of what it would’ve meant for one of Wisconsin’s own to come home.