HEADLINES

Chiefs Release Justin Houston

March 10th, 2019 at 3:20pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Chiefs have released edge rusher Justin Houston, the club announced today.

“Over the last eight seasons we’ve had the ability to watch Justin grow into a leader on and off the playing field,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “His passion helped him become one the most successful pass rushers in franchise history. We appreciate his contributions to our team and community and he’ll always be considered a part of the Chiefs family.”

Kansas City had been attempting to trade Houston, but no club was willing to take on his $15.25MM base salary. By cutting Houston, the Chiefs will $7.1MM in dead money, but will also create $14MM in cap space. That latter figure is critical for Kansas City, as the team had less than $10MM in cap space before moving from Houston.

In addition to trying to move Houston, the Chiefs are also rumored to have put fellow pass rusher Dee Ford on the trade block. Ford was designated as Kansas City’s franchise player and will earn north of $17MM in 2019, and the Chiefs are reportedly searching for a second-round pick in exchange. However, it’s possible Kansas City will be more amenable to retaining Ford now that Houston is out of the picture.

Houston led the NFL with 22 sacks in 2015, but injuries have since taken a toll on his availability. Now entering his age-30 campaign, Houston can still be an effective player, as evidenced by his 18.5 sacks over the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus graded him as the NFL’s 14th-best edge defender last year, and he should have a solid market given that most of this offseason’s best pass-rushers were taken off the market via the franchise tag.

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