JJ Watt has been out of football for two years, but there’s a chance the former NFL star could be coming out of retirement in 2025 and it’s all because of a bet he made.
Watt and his wife, Kealia, own a stake in Burnley FC, a soccer team that plays in the English Football League’s (EFL) Championship division. The goalkeeper for Burnley is James Trafford, who just happens to be a huge fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, which is a very notable aspect of this story.
Back in December, Trafford asked Watt if he’d be willing to come out of retirement to play for the Bengals and Watt half-jokingly responded that he would do it, but only if Trafford went the rest of the EFL season without surrendering a single goal.
The tweet above is from January, but the two had the text message exchange on Dec. 28 and up to that point, Trafford had allowed just nine goals in 22 league starts, which is impressive. But to win the bet with Watt, the 22-year-old Trafford would have to finish the season by recording 24 shutouts (clean sheets) in a row.
Considering the all-time English record by any keeper is 14 shutouts in a row, this didn’t seem like anything Watt would have to worry about, but that’s suddenly changed,…
