Justin Houston needs a new home for 2021 after Colts close door to return

Every year the NFL Draft ends up forcing veterans out in one way or another as a new rookie crop enters the league. Many of those veterans end up finding new teams on which to play and extend their careers. For others, it’s a stark reality that their pro careers might be over when their present team decides to move on.

For Justin Houston, he’s now facing the reality that the door has officially closed with the Indianapolis Colts. And fans of his former team, the K.C. Chiefs, are wondering whether he might be a part of the future once again.

The Colts entered the 2021 NFL Draft hoping to gain some pass rushing help—like most teams—and came away with two high-level investments. They used their first round selection on Kwity Paye, one of the draft’s top edge prospects out of Michigan. From there, in the third round, they grabbed Vanderbilt pass rusher Dayo Odeyingbo.

With the selection of two prospects to go with the incumbents on the roster, it looked as if there might not be room for Houston to return. The Colts had previously signed away Houston from K.C. on a two-year deal in free agency, a stint in which Houston proved he still had plenty left in the tank with 53 quarterback pressures and 19 total sacks.

The Colts have officially shut the door on Justin Houston returning for another year.

After the draft, however, general manager Chris Ballard made it clear that Houston would have to find a new team. “You know, we’ve got a pretty full room,” Ballard said. “We got a pretty full room, and I love Justin. But we’ve got a pretty full room at this time.”

At this point, it’s clear the Colts are going to let the kids play, a good move for such a young unit overall that needs to grow in order to either take the Colts to the next level or not. As for the Chiefs, it’s a different story.

The Chiefs are in win-now mode and will be for the foreseeable future. The team has lost Alex Okafor and Tanoh Kpassagnon on the edge, but the starting end spot opposite Frank Clark was already in need of an upgrade even before those losses. The Chiefs currently have a few risky options, but there’s very little in the way of veteran certainty.

Right now, it’s possible that Tim Ward makes a leap with more reps in his third season. It’s also possible that Taco Charlton becomes more than a occasionally used rotational end. It’s also true that Mike Danna could prove to have a higher ceiling than the rotational reps he surprised the Chiefs with last year as a fifth round rookie. And it’s also possible that a new fourth round rookie named Josh Kaindoh could produce in his rookie year when he couldn’t put much of anything together in the college ranks.

All of those bodies are helpful and each of them are players to watch for their potential, to be sure, but relying on four cars that might run okay is not the best move for a team with a long commute (a la 17 games and a deep postseason run). The Chiefs need one more option, at least, and they need it to be someone with a proven track record.

Whether the addition comes in the form of a deal with Melvin Ingram, who visited Arrowhead in March and is still waiting in free agency, or a return for Justin Houston really doesn’t matter. Ingram is coming off of an injury-plagued season but he’s been a proven performer in the recent past and should have something to offer. Houston still has a nose for disrupting the pocket. There are other veteran options, too, most of whom have likely been waiting in the wings for the draft to conclude—names like Everson Griffen or Ryan Kerrigan.

The Colts have made it clear that Houston is now done in Indy after two seasons. With that crossed off as an option, it will be interesting to see where he goes and if a reunion is in the cards after all.