NFL Legend Addresses Almost Joining Cincinnati Bengals

Few players in NFL history can match the defensive resume J.J. Watt put together. Selected No. 11 overall by the Houston Texans out of Wisconsin in 2011, Watt recorded 114.5 sacks across 12 seasons with Houston and the Arizona Cardinals, taking home...

Few players in NFL history can match the defensive resume J.J. Watt put together. Selected No. 11 overall by the Houston Texans out of Wisconsin in 2011, Watt recorded 114.5 sacks across 12 seasons with Houston and the Arizona Cardinals, taking home Defensive Player of the Year honors three times. Watt announced in December 2022 that the season would be his last, and he closed his career that January with 2.0 sacks and five tackles at the San Francisco 49ers.

Retirement has not taken the 37-year-old out of sports, as he and his wife Kealia, a former U.S. national team forward, acquired a minority ownership stake in English club Burnley in May 2023. That stake eventually produced a bet. In December 2024, Watt and Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford agreed over Instagram direct messages that Watt would come out of retirement and play for the Cincinnati Bengals, the NFL team Trafford supports, if Trafford did not concede another league goal for the rest of the 2024-25 season (via ESPN).

Trafford nearly delivered on his end, but ultimately conceded a goal. Watt addressed almost joining the Bengals during a recent visit to Cincinnati, in a video interview posted to X by WCPO 9 sports director Caleb Noe, who covers the Bengals for the station. “I was 1000% serious if he somehow, in an insane way, managed to do it,” Watt said.

“I would have put on the stripes.” Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show two days after the streak ended, Watt said he had told his wife he would play for the veteran minimum to honor the bet. Watt found humor in the ending at the time, taking a shot at Skyline Chili on social media.

“I don’t like Skyline Chili anyway,” Watt wrote on X. The Bengals, meanwhile, have spent the offseason rebuilding the defense Watt would have joined. Coming off a 6-11 season and a third-place finish in the AFC North, Cincinnati traded the No. 10 overall pick to the New York Giants for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II in April, then signed Lawrence to a one-year, $28 million extension that runs through the 2028 season and added Jonathan Allen on a two-year deal. Cincinnati opens the preseason at home against Detroit on Aug. 13 at Paycor Stadium, then begins the regular season at home against Tampa Bay on Sunday, Sept. 13.

Watt will be watching from home.