Justin Houston lands with Baltimore Ravens on one-year deal

Former Kansas City Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston has landed with the Baltimore Ravens on a one-year contract on Saturday, per ESPN reporter Adam Schefter.

Schefter’s report includes the total worth up to $4 million. That’s a very cap-friendly deal for a player who has still proven to be productive and is motivated to chase a Super Bowl ring for the first time in his career after years with both the Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts.

Houston was let go by the Chiefs following the 2018 season in a complete reinvention of the defensive front as the Chiefs installed Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive schemes. The team allowed Justin Houston and Allen Bailey to leave in free agency and traded away Dee Ford to the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, they traded for Frank Clark and signed Alex Okafor in free agency.

Houston went to sign with the Colts on a two year deal and he put together 19 total sacks in that span in Indy. He also had 53 total pressures, 3 safeties and 5 fumble recoveries for the Colts.

Justin Houston signed a one-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens.

Now Houston becomes a prominent veteran pass rusher on a team with a lot of defensive stars, including former Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters. It’s interesting that the Ravens also signed away wide receiver Sammy Watkins in free agency on a one-year deal worth up to $5 million.

As for the Chiefs, fans would have loved to see Houston back in K.C. but there have been no official rumors or any sort of substantive smoke to believe any talks had taken place. The Chiefs did bring in Melvin Ingram for a free agent visit earlier this offseason, which led to a lot of conjecture about potential pass rushing additions. In the end, the Chiefs re-signed Okafor and Taco Charlton, drafted Joshua Kaindoh in the fourth round and called it a day.

Houston, who is 32 years old, is only 2.5 sacks away from 100 for his career.