The Kansas City Chiefs and All-Pro outside linebacker Justin Houston came to an agreement on a six-year, $101 million deal with $52.5 million guaranteed on Wednesday morning. It is the largest contract in NFL history for a linebacker and the second-largest deal for a defensive player, so needless to say, it is grabbing all the headlines.
The one bit of information that did not come out yesterday was how the contract would break down from year to year. On Thursday, our friend Joel Corry provides us with those answers.
Justin Houston's 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020 salary cap numbers are $5.1M, $19.1M, $20.6M, $19.1M, $19.6M & $17.5M.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) July 16, 2015
Chiefs have $8.63M of salary cap room after Justin Houston's deal. There should be right around $27.5M of '16 cap space (assumes $150M cap).
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) July 16, 2015
Here’s a visual of the deal, via Spotrac:
The overall picture given tells us a few things. First, if Corry’s projection of $27.5 million in cap space for 2016 is correct, the Chiefs would still rank 14th in cap space throughout the NFL, per Over The Cap. After figuring in some small contracts and the draft class, Kansas City would definitely have enough space to keep Sean Smith and Derrick Johnson if it desires. Just don’t expect a massive haul in free agency.
Second, the Chiefs gained a lot of cap space for this season. Houston’s cap number was $13.1 million on the franchise tag, but drops to $5.1 million after signing his large deal. This means Kansas City has approximately $8.5 million in cap space, putting them in the middle of the pack. This allows the Chiefs a chance to grab some nice talent should it be cut during training camp.
In the coming days, we will find out the dead money should Kansas City want to move on from Houston at some point. My guess would be the first four years are virtually guaranteed, and then Chiefs fans will likely be talking about a restructure.
Overall, very solid deal for both sides.