J.J. Watt isn’t backing down from a bet he made with Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford, even if the NFL legend has to come out of retirement.
Trafford and Watt made a bet in December that if the keeper went without giving up a goal for the rest of the EFL Championship season then the former defensive end would come out of retirement to play for the Bengals.
Watt is part of the owner of Burnley, which plays in England’s second tier of their soccer pyramid. And since the initial exchange, Trafford has kept clean sheets in 13 consecutive matches.
The former NFL defensive end and three-time defensive player of the year has been poking fun at the wager on social media and during an appearance on the “Dan Patrick Show”, Watt insisted he would follow through if he had to.
“I’ll do it,” Watt told Patrick. “If he does that, which is insane, we have 12 or 13 games left. If he does it it’s insane enough and respectful enough that I will go out there and follow through. Who knows if they even want me? I haven’t talked to them, but I’m in shape I’ll go play.”
.@JJWatt says he’ll absolutely follow through with his bet to come out of retirement and play for the #Bengals if James Trafford doesn’t allow another goal for the rest of the season.
The only question? Would the Bengals want him? 👀
Care to comment, @Bengals? pic.twitter.com/d7QY5xPk88
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) February 25, 2025
There’s still some time for Watt to win the bet, but he told Patrick that it has helped create new fans of the soccer team in Cincinnati, “ which is pretty cool,” and that the wager was “getting pretty serious.”
There are still 13 games left on the Burnley schedule.
Burnley is 18-13-2 and in third place in the league, giving them a chance at a promotion to the Premiere League
Though Watt is starting to get a bit nervous, he hasn’t fully thought ahead to how he would pull off his end of the bargain.
And that never filed retirement papers.
“Technically I would assume I’m a free agent,” he said.
There’s also the matter of whether or not the Bengals would even want to add Watt to their roster.
Trafford and Burnley defender CJ Egan-RIley are both Bengals fans, though Watt has no idea why that is.
“I’m gonna reach out to the Bengals here,” Watt said. “I gotta at least get these guys some gear. I’ll reach out to (Joe) Burrow and see if he’ll sign a jersey for them. Because they’re actually big fans, which, I don’t understand that.”
