J.J. Watt Revealed He Wanted Packers Before Signing With Cardinals

ARIZONA -- Former Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt didn't initially have his eyes on the desert when he hit free agency in the 2021 offseason.

"I wanted to play for the Packers in free agency. I wanted to go to Green Bay. They were not interested," Watt said on The Pat McAfee Show this week.

The future Hall of Fame player departed the Houston Texans after ten seasons of service, which included numerous Pro Bowl/All-Pro honors on top of three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards.

The Wisconsin native wanted to make one final push in his NFL career, though the hometown team never came calling, even with Watt willing to take a massive discount.

"That's where I wanted to go. 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.' I'm not saying there's a guarantee to take it. I said if it's $2 million, if it's $4 million -- whatever the number is put it in front of me, so I can at least consider it against all these options. They said, we can't get a number," Watt continued.

"You go through the list of everything, where you would like to go, what you are looking for -- I said my ideal situation for me would be to go play for the Green Bay Packers. That's where I grew up, I watched Reggie White, that would be incredible. I said I'll take a significant, significant hometown discount to play there, but I just need to know what that looks like so I can at least consider it against all options. I was not given a number to consider.

"I can tell you without question right now, $5 million would have gotten it done."

Full clip:

"I wanted to play for the Green Bay Packers when I was a free agent and they were not interested..

This was right before I signed with the Arizona Cardinals..

$5M would have gotten it done but they didn't make me an offer" ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/o6mSnWmmB5
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 17, 2025

Rather, Watt announced the signing on his own in a surprise move that featured him working out in a Cardinals shirt -- way ahead of insiders such as Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter.

He signed a two-year, $28 million contract with Arizona and retired at the end of 2022.

source: me. pic.twitter.com/1Y6okQBUy5
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 1, 2021

The Cardinals, quite frankly, got extremely lucky with Green Bay not stepping up to the plate. Arizona saw some insane production from Watt even in the twilight of his career, as he registered 12.5 sacks in his final year of playing.

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