As a Wisconsin native and former Badgers superstar, J.J. Watt could have ended his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers to cap things off. But was that ever a possibility?
Appearing on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Watt was asked if he ever contemplated finishing his career in Green Bay when he left the Texans in 2021. Watt said that the idea appealed to him at the time, but also indicated that the interest may not have been mutual.
“There’s certainly a part of me that thought about that. There’s a story for another day… There was certainly a thought for that. It’s just that sometimes things don’t materialize in the way that it all is gonna, ya know, sometimes it just doesn’t materialize,” Watt said.
“Sometimes things just don’t materialize. Sometimes things just don’t happen the way that fairy tales are supposed to happen.”
Obviously that could mean a lot of different things, but it’s a pretty easy to conclude that Watt had interest in joining the Packers and the Packers either didn’t want him or wouldn’t make a sufficient offer.
“Sometimes things just don’t happen the way fairy tales are supposed to happen.” @AdamSchein asks @JJWatt if the Packers lack of interest in him prevented him from signing in Green Bay as a free agent in 2021.
Subscribe to “Rise And Schein Podcast” 🔗 https://t.co/QUZdg78yWY pic.twitter.com/dA1rg8Bn7p
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) May 10, 2023
J.J. Watt wound up signing with the Arizona Cardinals, enduring an injury-filled first season before finishing his final season with 12.5 sacks and calling it a career at the end.
It’s hard to say whether finishing his career in Green Bay would have been the “fairy tale ending” that he would have liked regardless.
Would Watt have done well with the Packers?