The NFL’s countdown of the top 100 players continued Wednesday night and another Chiefs linebacker showed up on the list.
Coming in at number 57 is Justin Houston, who received praise from Terrell Suggs as being one of the top four outside linebackers in the game. A nifty accolade that was also given to Tamba Hali. So, yes, the Chiefs are looking pretty good at outside linebacker between Houston, Hali, and Dee Ford.
Houston may have missed most of the second half of the season but his impact in the first half was too much to ignore. He had a 4.5 sack game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Andy Reid‘s return to Philly and made key plays against, a three-sack game against Jacksonville to open the season, and a four-game game streak with at least one sack from week five to week eight. His ability to create pressure on the quarterback was instrumental in the success of the defense and the team.
Pro Football Focus also thought pretty highly of Houston, giving him a +35.5 grade for the season and a +20.4 pass rushing grade (note: includes playoffs). Even though he missed the final five and a half games of the season, Houston was still the top-ranked 34 outside linebacker in the NFL according to PFF. So it should be no surprised that he ranked in the top five amongst 34 OLB in pass rush grade, run defense grade, and pass coverage grade. That’s a pretty complete player.
We would love to embed the video of Justin Houston segment on the show but the NFL doesn’t allow such things. Instead we’ll have to link you to the video: Justin Houston.
Houston joins Derrick Johnson as the two players to appear on the top 100 so far.