According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there have been no contract talks between the Chiefs and OLB Justin Houston since the team used their franchise tag on him a few months ago.
Florio previously reported that Houston is “very upset” with the team and was planning to actively solicit an offer sheet from another team.
However, Florio doesn’t anticipate anything happening between Houston and a prospective team before the upcoming draft.
Any team interested in signing him to an offer sheet would need to part with two first-round picks if the Chiefs were to pass on matching the offer. Although, an interested team could wait until after the draft, which would allow them to part with 2016 and 2017 picks and still get to use their 2015 selection.
That’s still a lot of compensation for a player on top of a market-value contract, and probably the main reason that franchised players haven’t changed hands in recent years.
There has been talk that Houston is unlikely to sign the franchise tender and instead is likely to holdout of offseason work, so this remains something to keep an eye on in the coming months.
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’ll have more regarding Houston and his situation as the news is available.
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Had KC Chiefs season tickets for 28 years, have 25 year patch on my coat to prove it,and it became obvious to me when Herm “Stupid” Edwards was signed and the glaring fact that they “Never” want to pay anyone what they are worth, not even Justin Houston,this is why I gave up my 4 season tickets in row 4 and never looked back