Chiefs Rework OLB Justin Houston’s Contract, Pick Up $6M Of Cap Space

Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Chiefs reworked OLB Justin Houston’s contract in recent days and in turn picked up $6 million of cap space.

Kansas City accomplished this by turning $7.5 million of Houston’s $14.9 million base salary into a signing bonus.

The Chiefs were pretty tight up against the cap, so this will at least give them some breathing for the duration of the season.

This past weekend, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that Houston is not expected to be back until November at the earliest.

Kansas City placed on the PUP list a few weeks ago, which means he will miss the first six weeks of the regular season. However, La Canfora says that his timetable is much longer than this.

Instead, La Canfora writes that the hope is that the Chiefs will get Houston back for a final playoff push later on in the year.

Houston underwent an offseason knee scope, which revealed an issue with his ACL. He was given a timetable of 6-10 months before he would be able to return.

Houston, 27, is in the second year of his six-year, $101 million contract that included $52.5 million guaranteed. He stands to make a base salary of $14.9 million for the 2016 season.

In 2015, Houston appeared in 11 games for the Chiefs and recorded 30 tackles, 7.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and six pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 4 edge defender out of 110 qualifying players.