J.J. Watt announced that he will be retiring after the end of the 2022 season and the Cardinals have done some contract maneuvering to lessen the impact of his remaining cap hit for the 2023 season.
Watt’s contract is up after this season, but void years on the deal he signed in Arizona mean that he’ll remain on their salary cap beyond this season. Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Cardinals have tacked another one of those years onto the deal.
That will drop his cap hit for the 2023 season to $2.4 million and put $4.8 million of dead money into the 2024 campaign.
The Cardinals can use some of that added space to try to fill out their defensive line in Watt’s absence, although that’s just one of a number of areas that the team will have to address after a dismal 2022 campaign.
