Just hours before the franchise tag deadline, the Kansas City Chiefs have chosen to secure Justin Houston, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Coming off a 22 sack season and at only 26 years old, it’s no surprise that the chiefs chose to secure Houston before he entered free agency.
If not for J.J. Watt’s tent-pole 2014 campaign, Houston would likely have been the run-away defensive player of the year. Houston, who had 27.5 sacks in his three seasons before 2014, broke out from very good to great capping off the year with four total sacks in week 17 against San Diego. Chiefs GM, John Dorsey, and head coach with personnel leverage, Andy Reid, will likely use the franchise tag to continue to negotiate with Houston’s agent toward a long-term deal. This is surely bad news for the rest of the AFC West, where 8 of Houston’s 22 sack season came against.
While franchising Houston is a big first step for the Chiefs this offseason, the team will still have to contend with a number of potential cuts and renegotiations that include teammates: Tamba Hali and Dwayne Bowe. With starters Donnie Avery and Anthony Fasano already getting axed, the Chiefs will likely continue to re-evaluate their roster and retain their most essential players.
A final angle to the Houston development is a potential dispute brewing on exactly which franchise tag he will receive. Early projections for the linebacker franchise tag projects to over $13 million, but with the defensive end tag being worth over a million more, Houston may file a grievance through the NFLPA. The result may end up being a Jimmy Graham-like dispute between Houston and the NFL, where an outside arbiter is brought in to settle the positional crisis. While Houston’s designation as a rush linebacker may muddy negotiations, it’s likely no more than a speed bump toward a long term multi-million dollar deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.