Update:
Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star confirms the previous report that the Chiefs will be meeting with free agent OLB Justin Houston at this week’s Scouting Combine regarding a contract extension.
According to Paylor, the Chiefs aren’t expected to use their franchise tag on Houston before the meeting with his representatives this week.
Paylor adds that Houston and his camp have yet to make a decision as to whether to or not they’ll sign the franchise tender, if if/when it’s issued.
Should the Chiefs elect to franchise Houston, it would cost Kansas City close to $13.116 million.
———
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the Chiefs and the agent for OLB Justin Houston, Joel Segal, will meet next week to try to come to an agreement on a long-term contract.
Florio reiterates that the Chiefs are still expected to apply the franchise tag to Houston if they’re unable to reach an agreement at some point in the near future.
The two sides reportedly haven’t discussed a long-term deal for several months, so this is at least an encouraging sign that they would like to get an agreement in place.
The problem here is that the Chiefs are in a tough financial position and have little cap space to work with. Houston has played so well in recent years that it would be surprising at all to hear that he’s targeting a deal close to J.J. Watt‘s eight-year, $108.88 million contract that included $51.8 million guaranteed.
Jason Cole previously suggested that Houston could settle for a deal slightly above Rams DE Robert Quinn‘s contract — four-years, $66.575 million and $41.268 million guaranteed.
Houston, 25, recorded 68 tackles, 22 sacks, four forced fumbles and five pass defenses over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 1 outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense this year by a wide margin.
We have Houston listed as the No. 1 player in our Top 50 – 2015 Free Agents list.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
Out of curiosity do the Chiefs have to have cleared the cap space prior to Houston signing the contract or do they have time to do that afterward? Say by the end of cuts in August?
The Chiefs will need to be cap complaint before the start of free agency. In order to apply the tag, the Chiefs will need to have enough cap space to fit him into their books.
They have a lot of work to do.