The Justin Houston contract crisis is reaching critical mass, with the deadline coming in less than 24 hours for a long-term deal. The last we heard was that Houston’s agent, Joel Segal, and general manager John Dorsey were scheduled to talk, according to multiple reports including Pro Football Talk, Terez Paylor and Herbie Teope.
We are now at almost 5 p.m. CST, and nothing has been reported about the meeting. Perhaps absolutely nothing happened and the two sides are resigned to the fact Houston will be playing on the franchise tag. Or, just maybe, the two sides are still hard at work trying to hammer out a deal before the night comes. Let’s all hope it is the latter.
Not to beat a dead horse, but here’s the situation again. If Houston does not sign by the deadline of 4 p.m. CST on July 15 (tomorrow) he will not be allowed to negotiate a long-term deal with the Chiefs until after the season. Houston then would have two options: hold out and wait to come back, lessening his risk of injury, or sign the tender and play at $13.1 million in 2015 (all guaranteed).
If Houston holds out, he is forfeiting up to $1 million each game that he misses. He can sit out the first 10 games and return for the final six to still earn another year toward free agency. However, the likely scenario is that he either signs the tag and shows up to training camp, or skips the majority of camp and plays the entire regular season. It’s tough to see someone missing a game they love that pays out a fortune every Sunday.
Kansas City is not cooked if it doesn’t sign him by the deadline. It could theoretically sign Houston after the season, or franchise tag him again at 120 percent of his 2015 salary, coming out to approximately $15 million. Considering Houston’s ample skill, that is far from out of the question.
There still remains time, though. Tick, tock.