The Chiefs have released edge rusher Justin Houston, the club announced today.
“Over the last eight seasons we’ve had the ability to watch Justin grow into a leader on and off the playing field,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “His passion helped him become one the most successful pass rushers in franchise history. We appreciate his contributions to our team and community and he’ll always be considered a part of the Chiefs family.”
Kansas City had been attempting to trade Houston, but no club was willing to take on his $15.25MM base salary. By cutting Houston, the Chiefs will $7.1MM in dead money, but will also create $14MM in cap space. That latter figure is critical for Kansas City, as the team had less than $10MM in cap space before moving from Houston.
In addition to trying to move Houston, the Chiefs are also rumored to have put fellow pass rusher Dee Ford on the trade block. Ford was designated as Kansas City’s franchise player and will earn north of $17MM in 2019, and the Chiefs are reportedly searching for a second-round pick in exchange. However, it’s possible Kansas City will be more amenable to retaining Ford now that Houston is out of the picture.
Houston led the NFL with 22 sacks in 2015, but injuries have since taken a toll on his availability. Now entering his age-30 campaign, Houston can still be an effective player, as evidenced by his 18.5 sacks over the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus graded him as the NFL’s 14th-best edge defender last year, and he should have a solid market given that most of this offseason’s best pass-rushers were taken off the market via the franchise tag.
the rams will pluck that up!!!
Giants
The Browns make a ton of sense with the John Dorsey connection. He’s less of a priority with Olivier Vernon now there on the other side of Myles Garrett, but finding playing time for them would be a good problem to have.
49ers could use all the help they can get so why not.
Pittsburgh needs to go after him
See them rolling with Bud again. See if those near sacks can turn into sacks.
Would like to see what Houston can do in a 3-4 system tho. He might be able to put up monster sack lines as a true edge blitzer
Packers
Lions
Raiders
Colts
Vikings
I’ll make this easy…lots of teams will be inquiring about his services.
Seahawks
Cowboys
Bears
Impressive. 14 comments on him landing in a diffrent spot
he’d probably have value wherever, so it would make sense if every team had an interest at some price.
Everyone wants to take the prom queen behind the bushes until they discover the patch of poison ivy.
besides in being a rumor forum understand that EVERY team can use most of these stars but it’s a matter of priority and money first
Funny so many posts like this don’t list the patriots as contenders to land xyz player a team that’s isn’t a virtual lock to make the playoffs let alone a first round bye and odds are reach the super bowl will overpay but If the player truly wants a ring NE is the place to go money aside. Funny how many great players will never have won a ring bc they only cared about money when 1-2 years in NE at a discount woulda gotten them a ring. Hindsight I guess
Unfortunately that’s pro sports
The players don’t care about winning it’s all $$$$$
All sports are this way
At end of the day, rings are nice. But when you play professional sports, most want to cash in on all of the hard work it took to get them there. Even in NE those guy Aren’t playing for free. I don’t see many YOUNG free agents gong there, but they do draft & trade for young players. Plus, you can’t needy rings into a 401k
I see a 3 year deal with 10 million in guarantees
in five yrs bill belichick will sign JH to vet min and go on to win another super bowl
So basically the totals on Chiefs games this year will set a new sportsbook record. Looking forward to those games with 100 points of scoring….lol.
Houston we have a problem…
The Chiefs should sign Shane Ray if the price is right to replace Justin Houston.
Ray played for Missouri and is a KC native; he had some injury issues with Denver, but could be a good addition if he is healthy.
Dolphins