Well, we may never see it in real life, but at least we always have this:
It’s basically like he did play in a Packer jersey when you think about it.
Welp, sadly, and abruptly, the #WATTWATCH came to end yesterday afternoon when JJ tweeted out a picture of himself in an Arizona Cardinals shirt.
The Cardinals were never on anyone’s radar, but apparently the report last week that he was being offered around $15 million per year wasn’t wrong. He signs for 2 years and $31 million, $23 million guaranteed.
Look, would it have been nice to see JJ come home, fill a need, and help the Packers win a Super Bowl? Obviously. Am I bummed it’s not going to happen? You bet. But that price point would NEVER have worked in Green Bay. The Packers have been moving money around like a bookie with the feds knocking on the door, but I honestly don’t think there was even a mathematical path for them to sign him at that number.
And I don’t begrudge JJ at all for taking the money. I saw a lot of, ‘well I guess he only cares about money!’ takes on Packer Twitter after the news broke yesterday. Um, yeah. It is about money. Isn’t that what work is about for most people? Why do you think I got into internet blogging? Because it’s fun? Psh. It’s for the dollar bills.
I do realize that JJ has made more money than most people could spend in a lifetime, but if you want to take shots at him for signing the largest offer, keep in mind he also donates TONS of money to charity, and raises millions through the JJ Watt Foundation. Literally just type, ‘JJ Watt donations’ into Google and you can scroll for PAGES that have articles documenting all of the times he’s been giving money to great causes. He raised $27 million for Hurricane Harvey relief, he donated $350,000 to the Houston Food Bank, he gave $10,000 to the family of a fallen Wisconsin firefighter, the list goes on and on and on. So before you start taking shots at what you perceive as ‘greed,’ keep in mind that he’s doing a lot of good in this world with all of that money.
In closing, it stinks that the Packers couldn’t bring him in, but I don’t regret a single minute of #WATTWATCH. I had a good time trying to interpret cryptic tweets, I had a good time convincing myself he was coming, I enjoyed it all. And I will never not root for JJ Watt, unless the Cardinals play the Packers. Gosh I love da Packers I’d do anything for da Packers.
PS: In some ways this going by the wayside is sort of a relief. As awesome as it would have been to have him come to Green Bay, all along it has probably made more sense for the Packers to focus on figuring out what to do to improve the secondary, whether or not to franchise tag Aaron Jones, or whether they can make a run at bringing Corey Linsley back.
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