Why The Kansas City Chiefs Paid Big For Justin Houston

Oct 26, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston (50) celebrates after sacking St. Louis Rams quarterback Austin Davis (9) (not pictured) during the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 34-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Many of the skeptical experts and fans will question whether any player that is not a quarterback in the NFL is worth a $100 million contract. They still have bad memories of the Albert Haynesworth debacle and how badly that can come back to haunt a team. So it was only natural to wonder if the Kansas City Chiefs should have gladly inked linebacker Justin Houston to a six-year, $101 million extension.

KC's Justin Houston signed a 6-year, $101M deal that includes $52.5M GTD, richest Chiefs' deal in history, richest LB deal in NFL history.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2015

Their reasoning is quite simple. There just aren’t many players in pro football who can post 20 sacks or more in a season. Think about that for a second. Houston had 22 sacks in 2014, that was a half sack shy of tying the single-season record set by Michael Strahan, an surefire Hall of Fame defensive end. Since it became an official stat in 1982, only nine other players have ever successfully reached that plateau.

Four of them are already in the Hall of Fame: Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor, Chris Doleman and Derrick Thomas.

Three others will be at some point: Strahan, DeMarcus Ware and Jared Allen.

You can probably include J.J. Watt in that group too but he’s still too young to make that prediction. Regardless, the point is Houston is in elite company. The Chiefs showed clear understanding of that. Pass rushers like him come around maybe once a generation and can almost drive the success of a defense single-handedly.

Those are the guys who should get paid the big bucks.

Is there a chance he could regress and prove they overspent at a moment of peak production? Of course. There is always that risk. Even so, history shows that at age 26 the best is yet to come for Justin Houston, and provided the Kansas City Chiefs keep even a marginally good front around him, he will continue to terrorize quarterbacks every Sunday.

More from NFL Mocks

Home/NFL News