Buccaneers: J.J. Watt is not a realistic free agent signing

J.J. Watt, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jameis Winston, (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)
J.J. Watt, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jameis Winston, (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images) /
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J.J. Watt and the Buccaneers are a fun match on paper, but that is the only place they can exist.

The entire NFL world has seemingly lost its mind in regards to J.J. Watt. Whether it is just his age or his numerous recent injuries that play a part, people are downgrading Watt from his pedestal as one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL, and the Buccaneers can’t afford a player of his talent.

This offseason, the Bucs have no choice but to re-sign Shaquil Barrett. Barrett’s past two seasons have shown a player that is a franchise pass-rusher, and as one of the most important positions on the defense, the Bucs have no choice but to pay him as such.

The Buccaneers need more from free agency than J.J. Watt

Outside of Barrett, Tampa Bay also needs to find money to bring Lavonte David back as one of the highest-paid off-ball linebackers in the NFL, and letting Chris Godwin walk would also be a travesty.

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Together, these three players could cost as much as 40 million dollars in 2021 alone to keep. The Bucs will have to make some moves to make this work, but that isn’t outside of the question. But this brings up a huge question mark. The Buccaneers will have to move mountains to bring these three contributors back and will want to sign other free agents, but the Bucs would instead free up even more money to sign a third pass-rusher?

J.J. Watt is pretty much exclusively suited to play as a defensive end in a 4-3 at this point in his career. Listed at 288 pounds and with far less of his speed from his younger years, Watt isn’t suited to play on the outside of a 3-4, the Buccaneer base defense.

So if the Buccaneers signed Watt, he would have to play on the outside in nickel packages instead of Barrett or Jason Pierre-Paul (which makes no sense), or he would play on the inside instead of Ndamukong Suh or William Gholston, where he would be horribly outmatched in skillset.

The “obvious” candidate for the Bucs to cut for Watt is Gholston, but this would be a mistake of magnificent proportions. Gholston was the best defensive lineman for the Buccaneers in 2020, and he outplayed Suh in 2019. His name doesn’t show up on the stat sheets, which is why most people won’t acknowledge Gholston’s contributions. Still, his ability as a run stuffer and pass-rusher on his relatively cheap contract is why the Buccaneer defensive line has been so good.

Watt is not better than Gholston against the run by any stretch of the imagination, and his price tag could likely be eight or nine million more than the current defensive end.

Everyone forgets that Watt is still a dominant pass-rusher. While the Bucs don’t have a need for him on their defense in the open roles, there are many teams across the NFL that could make use of him on the outside in their even front defensive lines. Watt has a far bigger market than most people believe, and assuming that he is willing to take a pay-cut or a reduced role is laughable.

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Watt is one of the purest competitors in the sport, he isn’t going to relinquish his spot to anyone, and he isn’t going to be the third pass rusher for anyone. Watt wants to start and get paid accordingly, and neither one of those things will happen with the Buccaneers.

It has been more than cool watching various Hall of Fame players come to Tampa Bay, and the new influx of attention for the franchise has been unlike anything most fans have experienced, but J.J. Watt doesn’t need the Buccaneers, and the Bucs don’t need J.J. Watt.

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