Texans & J.J. Watt Reach Agreement On A Six-Year, $100M Contract

Update:

Some more details regarding J.J. Watt‘s new six-year, $100 million extension are coming in.

• Jason La Canfora reports that the total value of Watt’s contract comes out to $109 million over eight years.
• Watt’s receives $30.876 million fully guaranteed upon signing the agreement, according to La Canfora.
• Albert Breer reports that another $21 million becomes guaranteed at the start of the 2016 league year.

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John McClain of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Texans have reached an agreement in principle with Pro Bowl DE J.J. Watt on a long-term contract extension.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that Watt’s new contract is worth $100 million over the course of six years and includes $51.8 million guaranteed.

• According to Mortensen, Watt is now the highest paid defensive player in the league.
• McClain adds that Texans GM Rick Smith and Watt’s agent Tom Condon worked until late Monday night to get a done.
• Smith reportedly has a policy of not negotiating contract extensions once the season is underway, so they two sides spent Sunday and Monday hammering out the details of the agreement.

This contract is actually fairly similar to the deal former Texans No. 1 overall pick, DE Mario Williams, signed with the Bills. Williams received $96 million over six years and $50 million guaranteed.

However, there could be structural differences between the two contracts, but the raw numbers look very close to one another.

Watt, 25, was set to make just $1,907,385 for the 2014 season and another $6.97 million if he played out the 2015 season under his fifth-year option. He already has a Defensive Players of the Year award to his credit to go along with two Pro Bowl selections.

Last year, he produced 80 tackles, 10.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and two recoveries. Pro Football Focus has rated Watt as the No. 1 defensive end in a 3-4 defense for the past two years by a huge margin.