It is official, JJ Watt will not leave retirement. During the last two months, he had the possibility that the three -time defensive player of the year would return to the NFL in 2025 for a bet he made, but that opportunity has now come out the window.
The bet involved Watt and James Trafford, a huge fan of the Cincinnati Bengals that turns out to be the Burnley FC goalkeeper. Watt and his wife, Kealia, have a participation in Burnley, a soccer team that plays in the division of the English Football League (EFL) championship.
In December, Trafford asked Watt if he would be willing to get out of retirement to play for the Bengals and Watt responded half a joke that would do it, but only if Trafford was the rest of the EFL season without delivering a single goal.
The previous tweet is from January, but the two had the exchange of text messages on December 28 and until that moment, Trafford had allowed only nine goals in 22 league openings, which is impressive. But to win the bet with Watt, the 22 -year -old Trafford would have to finish the season registering 24 whiten (clean sheets).
Taking into account that the English record of all time of any guardian is 14 whiten in a row, this did not seem that Watt would have to worry, but the things suddenly became very real for the former star of the Texans after Trafford left 12 games in a row without giving up a goal. However, that streak finally came to an end on March 4 after Cardiff City Yausef Salech put a wild header beyond Trafford in the 42nd minute.
Salech’s goal ended Trafford’s streak with 12 direct cleaning sheets, which will become the second longest streak for any guardian in the history of English football.
After Salech scored, Watt reacted on social networks.
Watt also thanks the Bengals fans for getting on the Burnley car.
Before the streak ended, both parties were definitely having fun with it. As recently as last week, Burnley’s social media team had made sure to remind Watt how Well Trafford was playing.
Trafford was so good in January that he was appointed player of the month of the EFL championship.
Trafford’s streak began on December 26 and spent more than two months before finishing Tuesday.
If Trafford had done the entire EFL season without giving up a goal, Watt would definitely have come out of retirement. Although Watt seems to love his work as a study analyst at “The Nfl Today” here at CBS Sports, he took a return to make a return of the NFL.
During an interview on the Dan Patrick program this week, Watt made it clear that he would have been happy to play for the Bengals if the unlikely consecutive leave of Trafford’s consecutive leaves would have continued.
“I will,” Watt said about returning to the NFL. “If he does that, which is crazy, we have 12 or 13 games left. If he does, it is crazy and respectful enough to follow absolutely. Who knows if the [Bengals] Do you even love me? I don’t even know. I have not talked to them, but I am fit, I will go to play. “
The Bengals had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season, so there is a good possibility that they had received Watt with open arms.
Burnley became a popular team in Cincinnati during the streak with Bengals fans in the hope that Trafford could achieve unlikely feat.
“We have created many Claret fans in Cincinnati, which is really great,” Watt told Patrick. “We are obtaining much larger qualifications and numbers in the Ohio region.”
During the interview, Watt admitted that I never expected things to go so far.
“It started as a literal joke,” Watt said about the bet. “Obviously, I talk to the boys of our team all the time and James Trafford will be the number 1 of England one day, it is so good, and I sent me a message one day. We were talking about Steelers-BENGALS … and I was playing with me and said: ‘Hey, do you feel like getting out of retirement and play for the flasses?’ Being an intelligent ass, I said: ‘Yes, do not give up another goal for the rest of the season, I will get out of retirement and play for the Bengals’ “.
Things began to get a little more serious for Watt after Trafford recorded his third clean blade in a row.
“There was [24] The games were at that time, “Watt said when the bet was originally made.” I thought, ‘this is just a joke’. The next game did not give up a goal and sent him a message and said: ‘Hey, you are really taking this seriously.’ And he said: “I really want you to play for the Bengals.” Two games later, two more games without goals, I send a message and I am like, ‘this is becoming a bit ridiculous now’ “.
The most impressive Trafford match during the streak possibly occurred on January 17 against Sunderland when he stopped two penalties in a 0-0 draw.
Stoping a criminal shot is quite difficult, but stopping two in the same game is almost unknown. The day after that raffle with Sunderland is when Watt shared the text message of the bet.
“And now, here we sat,” said Watt. “Each record has overcome on the road and there is only one record that has not broken in the history of English football, which is old like hell. It is establishing records and, therefore, is becoming quite serious.”
Trafford’s streak was so impressive that Watt began looking for houses in Cincinnati in a moment.
Although Trafford did not win the bet, he has managed to achieve one of the most notable seasons of any goalkeeper in the history of English football.
