The Cincinnati Bengals lost veteran defensive end Sam Hubbard to retirement on Wednesday morning, a day after their hopes of luring J.J. Watt out of retirement came to an end. The story of Watt potentially unretiring to join the Bengals is quite interesting, though, and involves English soccer team Burnley F.C., which Watt owns a stake in.

It's official, JJ Watt won't be coming out of retirement. For the past two months, there had been a chance that the three-time defensive player of the year was going to return to the NFL in 2025 over a bet he made,

J.J. Watt won't be coming out of retirement to join the Cincinnati Bengals, after all. Watt had recently doubled down on the promise he made to Burnley F.C. goalkeeper James Trafford, in which he vowed to return to the NFL and play for the Bengals if Trafford managed to avoid conceding a goal for the remainder of the season.