J.J. Watt acknowledges his future is unknown

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Texans defensive end J.J. Watt made an impassioned speech after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals, saying, in part, “if you can’t come in and put work in in the building . . . you should not be here.” No one works harder than Watt, but he still might not be “here” next year.

After 10 seasons in Houston, Watt’s final game could come Sunday.

He has one year left on his contract, but with no guarantees left, the Texans could cut him and save $17.5 million against the 2021 salary cap.

“There’s a whole lot of unknowns in that situation,” Watt said of his future, via Mark Berman of FOX26. “We’ll see what happens. I don’t have any guarantees left in my contact, so something’s got to happen one way or another. But we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. I’m not sure. There’s too many unknowns. I’m looking forward to playing the game on Sunday. We’ll see what happens after that.”

The Texans are looking for a new General Manager and a new head coach. They have no first-round choice in 2021, having traded it to the Dolphins for Laremy Tunsil. So the Texans might be in for a longer rebuild than what Watt wants.

If Watt were to become a free agent, it might lead to a chance to join his brothers, T.J. and Derek, in Pittsburgh.

Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, though, is campaigning for Watt to remain in Houston.

“Hopefully he’s still here in this organization, because I want to be the one that gives him that Super Bowl ring, be that quarterback he continues to talk about, that gave him that first one,” Watson said, via Berman. “That’s my idea. I definitely want him here.”

Watt, 31, has five sacks in 15 games after making four sacks in eight games last season. He earned his fifth All-Pro nod in 2018 with 16 sacks.