KC Chiefs: Justin Houston Wants To Remain A Chief

KC Chiefs Outside Linebacker Justin Houston said in an interview with Marshall Faulk on NFL.com that he wants to remain a Chief. Faulk asked Houston if he wanted to return to the Chiefs in 2015 or see what the market value is for him.

"“I would like to stay in Kansas City, me and coach Reid, we got a relationship going on. I think that he’s a great coach.” Houston said. “He’s part of the reason I got 22 sacks. He would pull me off to the side and keep me motivated, and always pushing me in practice, never letting me take days off.”"

The KC Chiefs haven’t always been fortunate to have a head coach, and organization that free agents wanted to play for. During Pioli and Haley’s run in Kansas City, Peyton Manning refused a visit with the Chiefs, and that was attributed to the dysfunction in the front office.

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Justin Houston is coming off his third consecutive Pro Bowl season, in which he finished with 22 sacks, falling just a half sack shy of Michael Strahan‘s all time NFL record of 22.5 sacks in a season.

Justin Houston’s accolades continue to add up, and Saturday at the NFL Honors awards show he was awarded with the Deacon Jones award which is given to the NFL’s sack leader every season.

"“I’m very honored and humbled to earn this award named after one of the greatest defensive players and sack masters of all time,” said Houston, whose accomplishments will be recognized as part of NFL Honors, the NFL’s primetime awards show on NBC at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday night, January 31. “I’d like to thank my teammates, coaches and our fan base. They rallied behind us all season long and helped fuel our pass rush. To have my name mentioned in the same sentence as a player like Deacon Jones is truly a blessing.”– Courtesy of KCChiefs.com"

The KC Chiefs can ill afford to lose Houston’s pass rush. Tamba Hali is near the end of his career, and Dee Ford probably is not quite yet ready to be an effective pass rusher on an every game basis.

Houston provides the threat of a pass rush that must be accounted for on every pass play, and offenses have to game plan for that. His rush abilities takes immense pressure off the secondary.

Houston is discouraged about missing out on the record, but will only use that as motivation saying.

"“It felt great, I don’t know what got into me that last game” Houston said. “I was just in the zone. When you get in that zone you just gotta take advantage of it. It hurt because I finished a half sack away of tying the record so it’s just motivation to come back even stronger next year.”"

A premier pass rusher is highly sought after in the NFL, and if the Chiefs want to hang on to Justin Houston they should get him signed as soon as possible. The Chiefs will likely have to make a lot of tough decisions in order to fit a new contract for Houston under the cap.

It sounds like all parties are motivated and want to get him signed as soon as possible so that Chiefs fans can watch him set the sack record in a Chiefs uniform in 2015.

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