J.J. Watt has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, the second Texans star to make that trek in as many offseasons, after DeAndre Hopkins a year ago. Watt turns 32 this month and is past his prime, but clearly the Cardinals are confident he’s got plenty left — they’re paying him $31 million over the next two seasons.
In Arizona, Watt will join what was one of the league's best pass rushes a year ago; the Cardinals had 48 sacks (4th). It's also a division that’s been really good at getting after opposing quarterbacks in recent years. The NFC West accounts for nearly a quarter (9) of the top 40 sack seasons over the last decade; five by the Rams, three by the Cardinals, and one by the 49ers. And the Seahawks were also pretty good a year ago, especially in the last eight games.
In the second half of last season, three teams had 26 or more sacks. All three were from the NFC West. Maybe Russell Wilson ought to be pushing harder for a trade. It's not an easy division for a quarterback to ply his craft in. (Table sorted by 2nd-half team sacks; NFC West teams in bold.)
| TEAM SACKS, LAST EIGHT GAMES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Sack(1st) | Sack(2nd) | Sack(Tot) |
| L.A. Rams | 25 | 28 | 53 |
| Seattle | 19 | 27 | 46 |
| Arizona | 22 | 26 | 48 |
| Green Bay | 17 | 24 | 41 |
| Pittsburgh | 32 | 24 | 56 |
| New Orleans | 22 | 23 | 45 |
| L.A. Chargers | 16 | 22 | 27 |
| Carolina | 8 | 21 | 29 |
| Miami | 20 | 21 | 41 |
| Philadelphia | 28 | 21 | 49 |
| Denver | 22 | 20 | 42 |
| Indianapolis | 20 | 20 | 40 |
| N.Y. Giants | 20 | 20 | 40 |
| N.Y. Jets | 11 | 20 | 31 |
| Tampa Bay | 28 | 20 | 48 |
| Washington | 27 | 20 | 47 |
| Buffalo | 19 | 19 | 38 |
| Chicago | 17 | 18 | 35 |
| Cleveland | 20 | 18 | 38 |
| Atlanta | 13 | 16 | 29 |
| Houston | 18 | 16 | 34 |
| San Francisco | 14 | 16 | 30 |
| Baltimore | 24 | 15 | 39 |
| Kansas City | 17 | 15 | 32 |
| Dallas | 17 | 14 | 31 |
| Detroit | 11 | 13 | 24 |
| New England | 11 | 13 | 24 |
| Las Vegas | 9 | 12 | 21 |
| Jacksonville | 8 | 10 | 18 |
| Tennessee | 10 | 9 | 19 |
| Minnesota | 16 | 7 | 23 |
| Cincinnati | 11 | 6 | 17 |
The weak link in the NFC West a year ago was San Francisco, which of course had an epic amount of injuries, most notably losing Nick Bosa for all but 2 games. That's a pass rush that should bounce back in 2021; the previous season, it had 48 sacks (5th). And Matthew Stafford, who took 38 sacks last season, replaces Jared Goff in Los Angeles; Goff was sacked just over half as often (23). Looks good for Arizona to rank in the top 5 in sacks again, and Watt -- who had just 5 sacks last year, but double-digits in all but one of his other six healthy seasons -- will be a big part of that.
This is not to say Arizona will zoom up to 55-plus sacks, something that's been done only five times in the last decade. They've got Chandler Jones (19 sacks in 2019; hurt most of last year) coming back healthy, but aren't certain to re-sign Haason Reddick, who led the team with 12.5 sacks last season. Indeed, adding Watt might mean they're not expecting to be able to bring back Reddick.
But if Watt can stay healthy and the team is right that he's got a lot of game left, this will be one of the league's best pass rushes, and probably a viable weekly fantasy defense, too.
--Andy Richardson