Arizona Cardinals Should Aggressively Pursue Justin Houston

On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs applied the franchise tag to their star outside linebacker Justin Houston.

Houston was a third round pick by the Chiefs in the 2011 NFL Draft. He has an incredible career up to this point, which has been highlighted by his 22 sack season in 2014. Houston’s 22 sacks were the second most for a single season in the history of the NFL, trailing Michael Strahan by only half of a sack.

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Simply put, Houston is the best outside pass rusher in the NFL, and at only 26-years-old, he has an incredibly bright future ahead.

The Chiefs placed the non-exclusive franchise tag of Houston. That essentially means that Houston can sign a one-year contract with the Chiefs for the average of the five highest contracts in the league at his position (projected to be $13.2 million).

However, since the Chiefs decided to use the non-exclusive tag, as opposed to the exclusive one, Houston may have other options. The non-exclusive tag is a bit cheaper for the team, but it leaves the player open to other franchises.

Each NFL team will now have an opportunity to send him an offer sheet until he signs his tag with the Chiefs. Kansas City would then have an opportunity to match the offer sheet and keep Houston on their roster, or they could let him go in exchange for two first round picks.

First round picks are incredibly valuable in the NFL, and if there is a team out there willing to pony-up for Houston, they will pay a massive price. That being said, he is a revolutionary talent who could attract plenty of attention in this scenario.

Well, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Houston plans to “aggressively pursue an offer sheet from another team, targeting teams that would be giving up a low first-round pick in 2015 and, most likely, a low first-round pick in 2016.”

Houston has 10 weeks before he has to sign the franchise tender. Up until that point, he is fair game for all teams to send an offer sheet. Clearly, Houston wants a long-term deal, and he is betting that there will be someone out there willing to give it to him.

If there are not any teams willing to sign an offer sheet for Houston, Florio reports that he “would sign the tender, finish the season (with Kansas City), and hit the market in 2016.”

It will be very interesting to see if Houston can get a franchise to give him an offer sheet. Two first round picks plus a very large salary would be a massive price, but he is a very talented and productive player with seemingly unlimited upside at a premium position. Houston could be one of the few players in the league who is worth the price.

One team who stands out to me as a possible option for Houston is the Arizona Cardinals. They have the 24th pick in the draft this year, expect to have another late pick next year and have a huge need for an outside pass rusher. Also, Houston would be a perfect fit in their aggressive 3-4 defense.
The Cardinals started out last year with a 9-1 record, before injuries derailed their season down the stretch. With pretty much their entire core group of players due back in 2015, The Cardinals are expected to be real contenders in the NFC in 2015.

While the defense as a whole was outstanding last season, Arizona did struggle to get a consistent pass rush. Alex Okafor led the team with only eight sacks on the season, and their 28 total sacks had them ranked 26th in the entire NFL. Add in Houston’s sack totals to the Arizona defense in 2014, and they would have been tied for the sixth most sacks in the league. Obviously, this is far from an exact science, but interesting nonetheless.

Now, in order to acquire Houston, the Cardinals would have to give up their first round pick this year (24th overall), their first rounder next year and give him a massive long term deal (purely speculation, but a five year deal worth about $16-$17 million a season sounds about right). One could certainly argue that the Cardinals would be better off keeping their picks and spending that money on other players in free agency.

However, I would argue that Houston is one of the best defensive players in the league, would be a perfect fit systematically and fills a large need for the Cardinals. Add Houston to an Arizona defense that already features the likes of Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson, Dan Williams and a host of intriguing young players, and the Cardinals defense would be scary good.

Sep 21, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell (93) fires up Arizona Cardinals defenders and fans against the San Francisco 49ers at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Even if the Cardinals (or any other team for that matter) decide that Houston is worth giving up two first round picks for, wouldn’t the Chiefs just match the offer sheet? Not so fast. Having two first round picks in back-to-back drafts would be very valuable, not to mention that the money the team plans to spend on Houston could be spent elsewhere.

Also, Houston is an incredible player, but with veteran Tamba Hali and last year’s first round pick Dee Ford on the Chiefs’ roster as well, they would likely still be able to get pressure on the quarterback. Simply put, if given the opportunity, the Chiefs would at least consider letting Houston go for this huge haul.

The Cardinals are in a prime position to be Super Bowl contenders for the next couple of seasons. They need to capitalize on this opportunity while they can. Adding a dynamic and proven player like Houston would make an already dangerous team even better.

The Cardinals should jump on this opportunity, as players like Justin Houston simply are not available very often.

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