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Retired DE JJ Watt announces he will be joining CBS Sports for the 2023 NFL season

We discuss the news that retired defensive lineman JJ Watt will be joining the CBS Sports team for the 2023 NFL season.

JJ Watt poses for a photo during NFL Honors at the Symphony Hall on February 9, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Retired defensive end JJ Watt took to social media to announce the next step for his illustrious career. He isn’t returning to the field as a player, for now, but will join CBS Sports for the upcoming NFL season. It sounds like the plan is for him to be part of the pre-game panel rather than a play-by-play announcer during games, but more information will likely be coming out the closer we get to September.

Watt was in the NFL for 12 years. The Houston Texans drafted him with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Watt spent 10 years playing for Houston, earning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards in 2012, 2014 and 2015. He signed with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent in 2021 and is coming off a season with 12.5 sacks, the most he had had since 2018.

Watt led the NFL in sacks in both 2012 and 2015 and was named to five Pro Bowls in his career. The 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year is a future Hall of Famer and is expected to join the panel of NFL Today alongside James Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Nate Burleson and Phil Simms.