The Houston Texans have sacked their star player JJ Watt. The pass rusher announced this himself via Twitter.
“I sat down with the McNair family and asked them for my release. We have agreed that our ways will part at this point,” said the 31-year-old in his video message. The Texans complied with the request, so Watt can go straight to the search for a new team.
By sacking, the Texans save $ 17.5 million in cap space, with no dead cap left behind. Watt signed a six-year, $ 100 million contract extension in 2014.
Due to the likely falling cap limit in the coming season, the Texans had to cut salaries. A trade by Watt could probably have earned the team a draft pick, but Houston decided to comply with the request of its superstar so that he could find a new team himself.
Watt had played for the Texans since 2011, when the pass rusher was selected with the 11th pick in the draft. Since then, Watt has been voted Defensive Player of the Year three times (2012, 2014 and 2015) and five times as First-Team All-Pro (2012-2015 and 2018). In recent years, however, he has had to struggle with injuries again and again. “It’s a farewell for now, but not a farewell forever,” said Texans CEO Cal McNair: “We wanted to do the right thing for him and give him the opportunity to choose his next team himself.”
With Watt, the Texans are losing the long-standing face of their franchise. He also always stood up for the needy: When the area was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Watt started a fundraising campaign. His original goal at the time was $ 200,000, but in the end he raised an unbelievable $ 37 million.
With a balance of 4-12, the Texans clearly missed the playoffs in the past season, and there is also a new misery: Quarterback Deshaun Watson officially asked for a trade at the end of January , according to NFL network insider Ian Rapoport. “Respect to one of the greatest of all time,” Watson wrote on Twitter: “You will do any team in this league better as soon as you put on their jersey.”
