JJ Watt might come out of retirement to play for Bengals: How an English soccer star could make this happen

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, because Trafford is now on one of the hottest streaks of any goalkeeper ever in England: Trafford has recorded 12 straight clean sheets for Burnley, which is the second-most by ANY keeper in English soccer history. 

The Burnley social media team has made sure to remind Watt of how well Trafford is playing. 

Trafford has been so good that he was named the EFL Championship player of the month for January. 

With Trafford now more than halfway to pulling off a feat that once seemed impossible, you might be wondering whether Watt will actually come out of retirement if Trafford wins the bet and the answer is yes. Although Watt seems to love his job as a studio analyst on “The NFL Today” here at CBS Sports, he said he’ll absolutely return to the NFL if Trafford keeps up his hot streak. 

During an interview on The Dan Patrick Show this week, Watt made it clear that he’ll be happy to play for the Bengals if Trafford’s improbable run of consecutive clean sheets continues. 

“I’ll do it,” Watt said of returning to the NFL. “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 absolutely follow through. Who knows if the [Bengals] even want me? I don’t even know. I haven’t talked to them, but I’m in shape, I’ll go play.”

The Bengals had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season, so there’s a good chance they’d welcome Watt, who’s a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, with open arms. When Watt retired following the 2022 season, he was a free agent, which means if the return does happen, he’d be free to sign with any team, including the Bengals.  

Plenty of fans in Cincinnati have caught wind of the bet and because of that, Burnley has suddenly become a very popular team in southwest Ohio. 

“We’ve created a lot of Clarets fans in Cincinnati, which is really cool,” Watt told Patrick. “We’re getting a lot bigger ratings and numbers from the Ohio region.”

During the interview, Watt admitted that he never expected things to get this far.   

“It started as a literal joke,” Watt said of the bet. “Obviously, I talk to the guys on our team all the time and James Trafford — he’ll be England’s No. 1 keeper some day, he’s that good — and he messaged me one day. We were talking about Steelers-Bengals … and he was messing with me and he said, ‘Hey, do you fancy coming out of retirement and playing for the Bengals?’ Being a smart ass, I said, ‘Yea, you don’t give up another goal the rest of the season, I’ll come out of retirement and play for the Bengals.'”

Things started to get a little more serious for Watt after Trafford recorded his third clean sheet in a row. 

“There were [24] games left at the time,” Watt said of when the bet was originally made.”I was like, ‘This is just a joke.’ Next game, he didn’t give up a goal and I messaged him and I said, ‘Hey, you’re really taking this serious.’ And he was like, ‘I really want you to play for the Bengals.’ Two games later, two more games with no goals, I message him back and I’m like, ‘This is getting a little ridiculous now.'”

Trafford’s most impressive match during the streak arguably came on Jan. 17 against Sunderland when he stopped TWO penalty kicks in a 0-0 draw. 

Stopping one penalty kick is difficult enough, but stopping two in the same match is almost unheard of. The day after that draw with Sunderland is when Watt shared the text message from the bet. 

“And now, here we sit,” Watt said. “He’s beaten every record along the way and there’s only one record left that he hasn’t broken in the history of English football, which is old as hell. He’s setting records and so, it’s getting pretty serious.”

With Trafford on a roll, Watt is now unofficially looking for houses in Cincinnati, so if you know a good realtor in the area, you might want to tweet their name to Watt.  

At this point, no matter what happens, Trafford is pulling off one of the most remarkable seasons of any goalkeeper in English soccer history. Burnley still has 12 more league matches left to play, so Trafford has his work cut out for him, but he’s already recorded 12 shutouts, so it’s certainly possible that he could pull off this historical feat and there’s a good chance that Bengals fans all over the world will be rooting him for him to do it. 

If Trafford takes this streak to Burnley’s final match in May, Joe Burrow might want to round up a few teammates and catch a flight to Great Britain to watch one of England’s best goalkeepers, who also happens to be a huge Bengals fan.