Justin Houston, Kansas City Chiefs agree to deal

By Kevin Parvizi | Jul 15, 2015

While the Dallas Cowboys and star wide receiver Dez Bryant appear to be coming closer to a deal that will keep the team’s No. 1 receiver in Big D for the long haul, it is the Kansas City Chiefs who have locked up their star player on a franchise tag first. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Justin Houston has signed a six-year deal worth $101 million with the Chiefs that includes a whopping $52.5 million in guaranteed money, though the specifics of the deal haven’t been released at this early moment (there’s a difference between guaranteed and fully guaranteed money, after all).

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The news of the Houston deal comes quicker than expected, because CBS Sports’s Jason La Canfora reported less than an hour ago that a deal between both sides could “go down to the wire”. Well, it sure didn’t take as long as expected, and that’s excellent news for all parties involved, especially Chiefs fans who were worried about this one.

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If you’ll recall, Houston didn’t sign his franchise tender, making him an unsigned player and putting a bit more stress on the Chiefs to get a deal done. But Houston is arguably more valuable than Bryant and Thomas, so the fact that he’s the first to sign today isn’t overly surprising.

Pro Football Talk reports that although Houston will indeed make $52.5 million in guaranteed money out of the $101 million the Chiefs could end up paying him over the next six seasons, we don’t know the signing bonus and fully guaranteed specifics of this contract.

But since Justin Houston is set to make $16.83 million per year, it’s safe to say that the superstar edge rusher has a great shot at maxing out on his contract. He’s just 26 and is only getting better, so the Chiefs are paying an elite edge rusher coming off of a 22-sack season a contract that is within reason.

Per Schefter, not only is Houston’s deal the richest for a linebacker in NFL history, but it’s also the second-most expensive deal given to a defensive player. Only Miami Dolphins defensive tackle and big offseason fish Ndamukong Suh has a contract worth more in total money, so, yes, Houston is a more expensive defensive player than J.J. Watt right now.

Houston is a case of a young, elite player at a premium position who has big stats, has been consistently dominate over each of the past threee seasons, and has successfully bet on himself, earning a monstrous contract.

The fact that Houston is the first player to sign a deal at the deadline isn’t surprising, because while Pro Football Talk once put the odds at “50-50”, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Chiefs and Houston had the “most optimism” when it came to getting a deal done.

It looks like that optimism has paid off for both sides, and it seems like the Kansas City Chiefs and their well-rounded, explosive star pass rusher have made plenty of progress ever since talks heated up yesterday. They’re spending an awful lot of money on Houston, but it’s exactly the type of money he’d garner on the open market for his big numbers, upside, youth, and strong work in the running game to go with his obvious prowess in the passing game.

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