The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to release veteran pass rusher Justin Houston as they deal with salary cap ramifications.
The Kansas City Chiefs have decided the numbers simply don’t add up off the field for Justin Houston with the report from FanSided’s Matt Verderame that the team will release the veteran pass rusher for salary cap reasons.
Houston had the single highest cap hit in the National Football League for any non-quarterback in 2018. Back in 2015, then general manager John Dorsey signed Houston to a six-year, $101 million deal that became an albatross around the team’s finances. The Chiefs forced Houston to prove his potential for one more year than necessary on the field, and Houston responded with a career year of 22 sacks. Dorsey then paid the piper and the team has regretted the total ever since.
Houston has yet to match or even come close to that sack total ever since, but he remains a well above average pass rusher in a league that values the position as much as ever. The Chiefs were rumored to be seeking a trade in recent days for the veteran linebacker, especially after a season in which Houston proved he was very effective when healthy, but no one was willing to bite on that contract.
Houston originally joined the Chiefs in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft and became an instant pass rushing threat opposite Tamba Hali. He ranks fourth all-time on the franchise list for sacks with 78.5, and there’s no doubt he will someday be immortalized in the team’s Hall of Fame.
Houston had 9 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 1 interception last year in 12 starts for the Chiefs.