Cardinals Add Extra Void Year to J.J. Watt's Deal; Here's How it Saves Money

The Arizona Cardinals are set to say goodbye to J.J. Watt after this week. This morning, the team added an extra year to his contract to help them financially.

Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt is set to retire after Week 18's meeting with the San Francisco 49ers. 

Plenty has been made about Watt's future - and rightfully so. He's destined for the Hall of Fame upon his first year of eligibility and deserves quite the farewell this week. The Cardinals hope they can send Watt out with a win, yet Arizona made a financial move on Thursday morning that will help spread Watt's dead cap money across a couple years rather than accruing it all next season. 

ESPN's Field Yates reported on Thursday morning that the Cardinals have tacked on one more year to Watt's deal "strictly for procedural purposes." 

Watt had void years on the end of his contract with Arizona (he was set to become a free agent this offseason), as teams have done this to help alleviate some of the financial burden after players leave. 

The extra year allows the Cardinals to designate Watt as a Post-June 1 move in March, spreading the dead cap hit from his current deal out between 2023-2024 ($2.4M in 2023, $4.8M in 2024) according to Yates. 

Cap bookkeeping: the Cardinals have tacked on a year to J.J. Watt's contract, strictly for procedural purposes.

Arizona can now designate Watt as a Post-June 1 move in March, spreading the dead cap hit from his current deal out between 2023-2024 ($2.4M in 2023, $4.8M in 2024).

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 5, 2023

Prior to this move, Watt was going to account for $7.2 million in dead cap for the Cardinals next season. Now, Arizona is spreading it out through the next two seasons. 

J.J. Watt's contract table via OverTheCap

The Cardinals are set to have 30 free agents in the upcoming offseason with just over $26 million in projected cap space available. 

Thanks to their move this morning, they'll have a little more wiggle room moving forward. 

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