Defensive end J.J. Watt was drafted to the Houston Texans in 2011. He was the 11th pick in the first round. Watt has played 9 seasons and 128 games. J.J. Watt is a monster on defense; he is a three-time defensive player of the year and a member of the 100 sack club.

Watt had one year left on his contract with the Houston Texans, but the Texans and Watt agreed on a buyout of his contract. The three favorite teams and a dark horse to get Watt were the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills and the Indianapolis Colts; the dark horse was the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Packers were thought to be the team who would get him because Watt is from Wisconsin, and a week before he signed they cleared up enough cap space to make a big move. Buffalo another team that were favorites, needed a big star on defense and they were doing anything for him. Just like the Bills the Colts need another big star on defense and they had all the money in the world to pay him. The Dark Horse team Pittsburgh Steelers were a dark horse to get him not because of money, but because his two brothers play for them.

The biggest news in sports in the month of March was J.J. Watts’ signing. He went somewhere no one except him to go. On March 1, Watt signed with the Arizona Cardinals. This news shocked the sports world and devastated fans of the teams that thought he would go to their team. He signed a 2-year $28 million deal with a $12 million signing bonus. J.J Watt will turn 32 before the beginning of the 2021 season. He has only played two full seasons in the last 5 seasons. A Seattle Seahawks fan Logan Bishop said: “I’m really surprised that he signed with them since they already had Chandler Jones and Budda Baker.”

Since the Seahawks are in the same division as the Cardinals and their quarterback is looking for help with the offensive line this signing could affect them. “I hope we can keep him and get him some help so he can help the team make a run to another Super Bowl win,” Bishop said.

Another  big NFL news story was that the Dallas Cowboys and their quarterback Dak Prescott finally got a deal done which was a 4-year $160 million deal. Dak becomes the highest paid quarterback in the NFL. This came as a shock because they were one of the favorites to get Russell Wilson. Wilson has four teams that he would like to go to if his situation in Seattle doesn’t get better. The four teams are New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders and the Chicago Bears. The Bears signed former Cowboy Andy Dalton to a one-year $10 million deal.

There are many teams this year looking to find their franchise quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft, including the Jacksonville Jaguars who have the first pick and the Atlanta Falcons who have the fourth pick. There are also teams that might not need a quarterback, but might draft one and have them sit, or trade their current quarterback and have the rookie start. Teams like the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles might do that. The first pick seems to be Trevor Lawrence from Clemson going to the Jaguars. Then the New York Jets either have the decision to draft a new quarterback for their new head coach, or help their current quarterback and give him some weapons on the offensive side of the ball. They could draft quarterback from BYU Zach Wilson or wide receiver Ja’marr Chase from LSU who sat out this year with Covid-19.

The third pick by the Miami Dolphins will probably help their second year QB with another weapon on offense and go with Devontae Smith from Alabama, the reigning Heisman Winner and National Champion. The Atlanta Falcons with the fourth pick will either get a QB to sit behind Matt Ryan or get help on defense.  If they go QB they would take the next best QB if Wilson goes to the Jets it’ll be Justin Fields. If they go defense, they would go get Micah Parsons from Penn State.

With the fifth pick the Cincinnati Bengals need help on the offensive line to help protect Joe Burrow who was injured during last season and may go for Penei Sewell from Oregon. The Philadelphia Eagles have another difficult decision either helping their second year QB Jalen Hurts with wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from Alabama who got injured during the season or they start a quarterback competition, if Justin Fields doesn’t get taken earlier in the draft. This NFL Draft on Thursday, April 29 will be a crazy one with teams trying to trade for higher picks or even trading their picks for players teams want to move on from.