![\"Oct](\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/.image\/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_xy_center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620%2Cx_3476%2Cy_1406\/MjEyMjI5Nzg2MDQ1NTIzNDY1\/usatsi_21547676.jpg\")
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JJ Watt spent the early part of his Hall of Fame-caliber career tormenting the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals. His\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0knocked the Bengals out of the playoffs in back-to-back years following the 2011 and 2012 seasons.<\/p>\n
That was over a decade ago, and the now 35-year old Watt’s been retired since 2022. The only way that changes, according to the man himself, is if Burnley F.C. goalkeeper James Trafford doesn’t allow a goal for the rest of the club’s current season.<\/p>\n
Since the deal Watt\u2014a minority owner of Burnley since 2023\u2014made with Trafford via Instagram DMs late last month, Trafford has yet to give up a goal. Watt joked about his bargain becoming a concern over X\/Twitter Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
Trafford has played five matches since he messaged his minority owner and has produced a clean sheet every time. The one match he didn’t appear in since then, Burnley, a Championship league team in English football, allowed a goal in a 3-1 victory over Reading on January 11.<\/p>\n
So far, so great for Trafford’s end of the deal, but Watt should be incredibly safe from putting his retirement plans on hold.<\/p>\n
![\"J.J.](\"https:\/\/library.sportingnews.com\/styles\/crop_style_16_9_desktop\/s3\/2021-08\/watt-jj-dalton-andy-091517-getty-ftr_cj0wn0ompq461e4tikb53qp2j.jpg?itok=68_H-cx2\")
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Burnley is\u00a014-11-2 since the season began back in August, but the club has\u00a020 more matches<\/strong>\u00a0to play<\/em>\u00a0until May in Matchweek 46.<\/p>\n If Trafford manages to prevent every single shot on goal from entering his net for the next 1,800+ minutes of match time, he may just enter the conversation for greatest goalkeeper of all time. The 22-year old has a save percentage of 85.7% on the season as he’s allowed nine goals in 26 starts.<\/p>\n That’s a pretty good clip, but he would have to ascend to a new level for Watt to call the Bengals up.<\/p>\n Watt obviously made the deal as a joke, but he should at least ask the Bengals for a tryout to honor his keeper’s wishes if Trafford manages what sounds like an impossible task. Learning that Trafford himself is a Bengals fan is also cool on its own.<\/p>\n We’ll track if (when) Trafford’s streak comes to and end. Burnley’s next match is this Wednesday at Plymouth Argyle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"\n