The initial tweet from J.J. Watt was like a bat-signal blaring in the dark of a Friday night during free agency, with the Texans defensive end lobbing out a trio of honeypot emojis, shortly before reports of Tyrann Mathieu agreeing to join the Texans emerged.

After letting Watt scoop the news, the Texans would later announce that the Honey Badger is indeed going to the Texans on a one-year contract, joining a Romeo Crennel-led defense that is going to generate a lot of heat in terms of preseason expectations. 

Adam Schefter reports it's a one-year deal that will pay him just $7 million.

Mathieu was released by the Cardinals this week after Arizona declined to pick up his option, primarily because of the guaranteed money it would have kicked in for the next two years. 

It would appear Mathieu is choosing to gamble on himself, because a one-year deal for a player with his injury history is a bit dangerous. Plus, he didn't exactly cash in relative to what you might expect for a player of his skill set and abilities. 

Mathieu did say he would take less money to play on a competitive team this year, which felt like an unnecessary shot at the Cardinals, but is a noble statement. The Texans were not, um, great on defense last year, but both Watt and Whitney Mercilus went down and the entire club cratered after Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in the middle of an incredible rookie season. 

Now they are bringing back multiple superstars on defense and will have a Crennel-coached unit that features Watt, Mercilus, Jadeveon Clowney and Honey Badger. There are some fun personalities on this squad and people will have high expectations. 

The Texans might not have been on the immediate list of potential landing spots for Mathieu, but they're a fun spot for him to end up in. The AFC South has an abundance of storylines fired up this year and the Texans potential resurgence with Watson and this spicy defense is near the top.