Just before the 2025 NFL season kicked off, the Green Bay Packers pulled off arguably their biggest trade in franchise history. Clearly, the Packers saw the value in trading two first-round picks for pass-rusher Micah Parsons, one of the best defenders in the NFL.
The Packers were cruising along, even being tabbed as potential Super Bowl contenders with a 9-4-1 record. Then, Parsons suffered a torn ACL injury in last week’s 34-26 loss to the Denver Broncos. Parsons is lost for the season, and now the Packers’ defense has a huge hole at the pass-rush position.
While there’s nothing that can be done about Parsons not being available for the rest of the season, he’s not the first potential future Hall of Fame edge rusher the Packers could have gotten their hands on.
During Wednesday’s appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, retired future Hall of Fame defensive end J.J. Watt revealed that he was desperate to play for his hometown Packers. But not this season.
His situation came after the 2020 season concluded, when he became a free agent after ten seasons with the Houston Texans. Watt ended up signing with the Arizona Cardinals and spending two seasons with them before retiring after 2022.
Yet, Watt said he “wanted to play for the Packers when I was a free agent, and they were not interested. This was right before I signed with the Cardinals. $5 million would have gotten it done, but they didn’t make me an offer.”
While he didn’t say it, our guess is the Cardinals made him the best offer around. Watt ended up signing a two-year contract worth a total of $28 million in Arizona. Still, we can’t help but wonder how his career may have ended differently, had the Wisconsin grad been able to play for Green Bay instead.
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