Arizona Cardinals went big in pursuit of J.J. Watt

The question on what the Arizona Cardinals paid J.J. Watt will only come up if it doens’t work.

However, it is interesting to watch how teams disseminate information to local insiders to get the narrative out how they want to.

It started with Arizona’s own John Gambadoro reporting that the Cardinals did not offer Watt the most money.

That was refuted by Indianapolis Colts reporter Stephen Holder, who didn’t want to make it a thing, but had some good thoughts.

Holder went on to ask a question on whether it would make sense that Watt would turn down a team that made the playoffs and was close to winning a playoff game and allegedly was offering more money?

That’s a fair question.

I think in the end, Jess Root broke it down nicely, the Cardinals were extremely aggressive in their pursuit of Watt.

It wasn’t just management, you had players like Chandler Jones an DeAndre Hopkins making a hard push for Watt.

The Cardinals are trying to turn over their own new leaf in the league. The effort with Watt will go a long way in those things, as Jess highlighted:

Team president and owner Michael Bidwill picked Watt and his wife up in his private jet and flew them into Arizona. Then, they rented out a swanky restaurant in Scottsdale to celebrate the signing with Watt. Watt, his wife, Bidwill, Keim, head coach Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph were all there.

I am willing to bet the Cardinals knew they had one shot to make Watt feel like he was wanted to most in Arizona, they took that shot and made it.

Bravo to them.