{"id":132024,"date":"2025-12-17T22:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024"},"modified":"2025-12-17T22:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:04:38","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-inside-nfl-revelation-the-packers-reportedly-had-a-stunning-opportunity-to-sign-an-all-time-great-for-just-5-million-yet-chose-to-walk-away-without-even-making-a-free-agent-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE NFL REVELATION: The Packers reportedly had a stunning opportunity to sign an all time great for just $5 million, yet chose to walk away without even making a free agent offer \u2014 a quiet decision that is now raising serious questions inside the fanbase and league circles alike. What seemed insignificant at the time is suddenly being revisited as a potential turning point, with insiders suggesting this missed move could have changed far more than anyone realized."},"content":{"rendered":"<section id=\"article-body\">\n<div>\n<p>In the 2021 offseason, the Green Bay Packers had a chance.<\/p>\n<p>The legendary J.J. Watt was a free agent. And he\u00a0<em>wanted\u00a0<\/em>to sign with the Packers.<\/p>\n<p>They never made him an offer, though.<\/p>\n<p>Watt signed with the Arizona Cardinals instead. In 23 games over two seasons with the Cardinals, Watt had 13.5 sacks (including 12.5 in his final season).<\/p>\n<p>The legend revealed this circumstance in his Wednesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wanted to play for the Green Bay Packers when I was a free agent and they were not interested,&#8221; Watt said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>ACL recovery timeline impacts when Patrick Mahomes, Micah Parsons will return<\/p>\n<p>He only settled for the Cardinals after not getting an offer.<\/p>\n<p>What would it have taken?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;$5 million would have gotten it done, but they didn&#8217;t make me an offer,&#8221; Watt said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Bills may not win the AFC East \u2014 but they sent a clear warning to the rest of the NFL<\/p>\n<p>McAfee was pretty shocked that Watt hadn&#8217;t gotten any offer at all from the Packers despite him wanting to play there.<\/p>\n<p>Watt will end up in the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>In 12 seasons and 151 games, he had 114.5 sacks and 70 passes defensed. He&#8217;s one of the best defensive players of his generation, including a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>He could&#8217;ve put Packers on his resume, as a kid from Pewaukee, Wisconsin who played for the Badgers in college.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Packers didn&#8217;t want him aboard. That&#8217;s too bad.<\/p>\n<h2>More NFL news:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Jaxson Dart has a 50% head injury problem<\/li>\n<li>Trevor Lawrence had a game never before done by an NFL quarterback<\/li>\n<li>A Travis Kelce retirement hint is coming<\/li>\n<li>Tua Tagovailoa&#8217;s contract looks like a nightmare<\/li>\n<li>Patrick Mahomes&#8217; injury has fans asking Tom Brady ACL question<\/li>\n<li>This Mike Tomlin horrible streak is hard to believe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Green Bay missed an opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":132025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE NFL REVELATION: The Packers reportedly had a stunning opportunity to sign an all time great for just $5 million, yet chose to walk away without even making a free agent offer \u2014 a quiet decision that is now raising serious questions inside the fanbase and league circles alike. What seemed insignificant at the time is suddenly being revisited as a potential turning point, with insiders suggesting this missed move could have changed far more than anyone realized. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE NFL REVELATION: The Packers reportedly had a stunning opportunity to sign an all time great for just $5 million, yet chose to walk away without even making a free agent offer \u2014 a quiet decision that is now raising serious questions inside the fanbase and league circles alike. What seemed insignificant at the time is suddenly being revisited as a potential turning point, with insiders suggesting this missed move could have changed far more than anyone realized. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Green Bay missed an opportunity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-17T22:04:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/avtnew-15-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=132024\",\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE NFL REVELATION: The Packers reportedly had a stunning opportunity to sign an all time great for just $5 million, yet chose to walk away without even making a free agent offer \u2014 a quiet decision that is now raising serious questions inside the fanbase and league circles alike. 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