Three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Five-time First-Team All-Pro selection. Five-time Pro Bowl selection. One-hundred-one career sacks. At 31-years-old, former 11th-overall draft pick J.J. Watt has suddenly become a free agent. With one year remaining on a six-year, $100-million contract Watt announced the Houston Texans, the only NFL team he has known, was releasing him in a mutual agreement to part ways.
A star edge rusher is now on the open market (or will be once the release becomes official). But, he is also an oft-injured edge rusher. Watt has been the face of the Texans - even with quarterback Deshaun Watson on the roster - but at 31, he is not in a position to go through a rebuild, which it appears is about to start in Houston.