Justin Houston has turned in a truly elite season already and is among the league’s very best all-around defenders, but health will determine his long-term status.
Twenty two sacks in 16 games.
Let that total linger for a moment. The National Football League has seen its fair share of elite defenders over the years and even decades. These are men who have committed their entire lives to mastering their bend around the edge, the use of their hands, the timing of their burst, their jump off the line. From the weight room to the film room, countless hours have been logged in pursuit of one thing: getting after the quarterback. Yet only four men have ever achieved the aforementioned total: 22 sacks.
In 2014, Justin Houston took the leap from talented pass rusher to elite defender. He’d been working hard at his craft, not just on his pass-rushing techniques but on his edge-setting, his recognition in coverage, his chemistry with teammates around him. The hard work had already made him one of the NFL’s bright young sack artists with 26.5 sacks through his first two seasons. However, it all came together in that fourth season.
The 22 sacks came at the right time. John Dorsey had refused to pony up for an extension over the previous year which meant now he had to pay through the nose to keep a 25-year-old who just nearly matched his age with the number of times he brought down the opposing quarterback. Pass rushers are always in short supply, so imagine one in his prime hitting free agency. The Kansas City Chiefs, as predicted, paid the piper—a price they are still paying.
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That amount, that very substantial amount of $101 million, is the shadow over Houston’s career, even several seasons later. Last year, Houston had the single highest salary cap hit for a non-quarterback in the NFL. The same will be true in 2018 (by nearly $2.5 million over wide receiver Mike Evans). Such totals will, of course, come with proportional expectations.
It’s here that I will lose some of you, and I’ve known this from the start. We live in binary times, and everything is immediately judged as black or white these days. A player is either awesome or he sucks. He’s productive or he’s done. Sports analysis has largely been replaced by blowhards with hot takes. And Houston’s image has taken the hit over the last few years.
In some ways, it is understandable. A man can argue that the stat sheet doesn’t tell everything, but the NFL’s highest paid defender, at least in terms of cap hit, should have double-digit sacks, right? Since signing the contract, Houston has averaged 7 sacks a season—far less than what you might expect from a man who once had 22 and is getting paid at that level. Even more, Houston has only averaged 10 games played per year since getting paid.
But for those who are watching Houston closely, it’s clear that he’s still one of the NFL’s single best defenders. The Chiefs have been unable to develop anyone opposite of their prized defender, which means defenses have maintained a focus on stopping Houston in particular over the years. Yet last year, a season in which he was healthy for the entire year, Houston once again showed what he was capable of.
Forget the lack of a Pro Bowl nod (a complete miss, by the way). Houston was brilliant at stopping the run and proved himself quite capable when dropped into pass coverage (which he was unfortunately asked to do way too much of). As an all-around linebacker, there’s not a real weakness in his game, but he’s also specialized enough to be an absolute beast in the backfield, the sort of disruptive player able to break through any offensive barrier thrown at him.
Now on the edge of another season in 2018, Houston can make another charge toward elite status. The lack of a Pro Bowl nod last year will cause those just glancing over the numbers to think that Houston had a single burst of greatness followed by a slow fade due to injuries, age or fatigue. In fact, that’s already the narrative some Chiefs fans believe in despite his strong showing in 2017.
It’s going to be very important for Houston to stay healthy in 2018 and beyond, likely for another two to three years. If he’s healthy, Houston can’t help but be productive. He’s simply too strong, too well-trained and too talented to not be among the best players on the field for the Chiefs.
Right now Houston has 69.5 career sacks, good for No. 87 all time in the NFL. For Houston to likely earn the right amount of attention, he’s going to need to add at least one more double-digit sack season to his resume in 2018 (and honestly, two more would be a huge help to his long-term legacy). If he were able to add 10 sacks in 2018, suddenly Houston would be sitting in the mid-60s and in striking distance of the top 50 players in NFL history.
The same can be said of his place with the Kansas City Chiefs. Houston is currently 20 total sacks behind Tamba Hali, who has 89.5, and 16 sacks behind Neil Smith, who has 85.5. Breaking into the Chiefs all-time players, especially those top three, would do well to cement his legacy and overcome the naysayers who have taken a look at the dollars he’s earned and grumbled in response.
Of course a player can’t please everyone, but it’s not as if the doubters don’t have a point. The post-contract seasons have been much less productive. Fortunately he looked solid last season and a few more strong showings like he had last year should establish Justin Houston as one of the best overall defenders of his generation.