March came in like a lion, make that a Cardinal for the Green Bay Packers.
Former Houston Texan and Wisconsin Badger heartthrob J.J. Watt ended a furious couple weeks of speculation by signing a free agent contract with the Arizona Cardinals, spurning his home-state, childhood team and dashing the dreams of cheeseheads who were hoping he’d finish his illustrious career in green and gold.
The three time NFL Defensive Player of the Year reportedly received a two year deal from the Cardinals worth 31 million dollars with 23 million of that guaranteed.
When released by Houston after his 10 year run as arguably the face of the franchise for all he did both on and off the field in Texas, Watt made it clear he wanted to join a team that gave him a shot at a Super Bowl while still bringing in top dollar as a defensive star. That’s why the Packers, along with the Bills, Titans and even Cleveland were considered likely destinations. That only ramped up Monday morning when a tweet surfaced showing Watt’s Peloton profile had changed to read, “SB56…GB…Cleve…Buff.” Watt tweeted he didn’t own a bike and within the hour, sent out another with him lifting a barbell with an Arizona Cardinal T-Shirt saying “official.”
JJ Watt working out in an Arizona Cardinals T-Shirt. Image courtesy: JJ Watt/Facebook
Watt certainly got top dollar from the Cardinals who were in the playoff hunt right to the final week of the 2020 regular season but still finished behind both the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams in the competitive NFC West and ahead of the injury ravaged San Francisco 49ers who represented the conference in the Super Bowl just two years ago. Arizona sports an exciting young quarterback in Kyler Murray and Watt’s former teammate DeAndre Hopkins at wide receiver.
While the Packers had to be intrigued by the possibility of adding the Pewaukee native to the roster, the guaranteed money in the contract given by the Cardinals priced Green Bay out of the picture.
That wasn’t the only news of the day.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur completed his hires on a restructured coaching staff that included a couple of promotions. LaFleur had already announced the promotion of Maruice Drayton to become special teams coordinator replacing Shawn Mennenga and the hiring of Joe Barry as the replacement for Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator.
Today, LaFlauer announced that Jerry Gray has been promoted to defensive backfield/passing game coordinator and Adam Stenavich is now the offensive line/run game coordinator. In addition, Rayna Stewart was named assistant special teams coach after serving as the unit’s quality control assistant the last two years. Connor Lewis is now a special teams assistant/game management specialist after working last year as a quality control assistant on offense.
Four newcomers have been added, beginning with John Dunn, the senior analyst. Dunn has spent five years in the NFL, the last two as the tight ends coach with the New York Jets. Justin Hood is the new defensive quality control assistant. Hood was the secondary/pass game coordinator at Kent State University the past two years. Ryan Mahaffey is on board as an offensive quality control assistant. He was the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Northern Iowa and was a graduate assistant working with wide receivers at Notre Dame in 2014, the year LaFleur was also on the Irish staff. Finally, Tim Zetts is another offensive quality control coach. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Austin Peay the past two years, also working as a wide receivers assistant at Mississippi State in 2018 with current quarterback coach Luke Getsy was on the Bulldogs staff.
The Packers also announced another major philanthropic effort from Aaron Rodgers. The three-time NFL Most Valuable Player has donated one million dollars to the North Valley Community Foundation. The Aaron Rodgers-Small Business Covid-19 Fund will distribute the money to 80, small and locally owned businesses in the Chico and Butte County area that have been hit hard by the pandemic.
This isn’t the first time Rodgers has helped out his hometown area. He donated a million dollars to help them rebuild from the devastating Camp Fire in 2018.
