I like Houston. I think he is a more balanced complete player than Ford thats for sure.

Even though he is 30, he could still produce. He made quite a few clutch plays for the D last season and so I think he is really important because of that and because he could still get to the QB and produce good numbers.

What Im not okay with is that he is injury prone. But still though, I’d keep him. When he is on his game, he is on. I just think guys like him aren’t easy to come by. They could build around him. I think the pros outweigh the cons. And yeah Im on board with others to restructure his contract because of age and injury prone reasons. What I think would be a good idea is to draft a pass rusher in the top rounds to both learn and solidify the depth in case Houston gets hurt. Thats wouldn’t be a bad idea imo.

Houston and Berry contracts are Andy and Clark, I don't think Dorsey was planning on keeping either.

Dorsey did draft Kareem Hunt but I don't remember any red flags other than a suspension for something small i think he got as a sophomore?

agree with all of this, Houston is a much more complete player for sure. Does get involved in pass defense and is active in the run game

Here's the deal though - he will NOT be a Patriot for $21 MILLION. Too bad KC cant find a way to keep him and pay him what the Patriots would.

Truth. He would be wise to restructure and stay with the team he knows best. I can't speak to another man's finances. But if my team is sitting on a QB of Mahomes caliber and has demonstrated to me that they are 100% serious about fixing my defense, I would probably be willing to listen to all of the options presented before trying to run off to New England.

But who knows? Houston is 30 and maybe he's looking at things from the perspective of a player who knows that there aren't infinite years left, and who wishes to gain every dollar that he is owed.

It's going to be an exciting off season either way.

Dorsey did a bang up job of ****ing this franchise. 6 year deals for both Berry and Houston is ridiculous.

If Dorsey simply signs Houston to a 5 year deal and signs Berry the first time, we would have $10+ million of extra cap space right now and those two would be minimal problems.

Well, here is the deal on signing KH. JD is just taking flyer hoping KH gets to play again. The NFL just cut a deal with 2 America hating former NFL players(Kaep and Reid) that were affecting their bottom line. You really think Goodell and crew are just going to flippantly throw down a 1/2 or full season suspension and casually let KH back in later on?

Here is what Goodell and the NFL brass know very well right now, that they are in the political crosshairs of a lot of these radical lefty progressive groups like the "MeToo movement". And because there is graphic video of this now gone public they are just waiting I assure you for KH to be reinstated as an active player so they can go after the NFL. Does Goodell and the NFL brass really want to experience the whole Ray Rice thing again and much worse and more expensive this time around ???

Not as easy as a simple reinstatement of KH as a player my friend. ;)

I still stand by my prediction that KH never sees the field and he too might end up suing like Kaep/Reid when it is all said and done. :shrug:

That part could be interesting. He played the first few years on a 3rd round draft pick salary. He made good bank on his second contract. But when you compare him with his side kick Berry, Houston is tens of millions behind Berry.

Dorsey get the blame for extending Houston because he didn't have the foresight to realize the team was going to switch schemes under a new GM and DC?

While I will agree that 6 years is too long in both cases, I feel we owe it to ourselves to look at these contracts from a different point of view.

IMO, the ONLY reason that Houston was re-signed that year, is because the year prior to that Dorsey was made to extend Alex Smith when there was no reason under God that year to do so.
Had the years been reversed, we sign Houston before the breakout year, and Smith after the shitty season he had. In both cases, we have better leverage and save millions, possibly keeping the Houston contract to 5 years or less.
I truly believe without a doubt that if left to his own devices, John Dorsey would have done exactly what I just outlined above.

As to Berry, what are you going to do when you're trying to negotiate a fair contract, maybe playing a little hardball with a high risk signing, and your owner basically tells you, "give them everything they want"? I'm pretty sure that Berry contract is what set the bad blood in motion between Dorsey and Clark. At the time, EB WAS the "face of the franchise", the top story, and great PR for the Chiefs. After the "Maclin phone call", that was it for Dorsey as far as Clark was concerned IMO. He didn't want to do business like that, and Dorsey may have even been taking a shot at Reid with that maneuver.

This is all speculation on my part of course. But JD had a lot of passion for the job and for the Chiefs; I truly believe he loved it here and wanted to do the very best he could to help the Chiefs achieve their goals. As it turned out, he was a little too aggressive with player personnel and it didn't set well with Reid or Clark. I have a feeling they'd be far more trusting and welcoming of his methods today though.

I don’t see Houston restructuring for anything that wouldn’t mortgage the chiefs future. He needs to hit free agency now at his age. He still has a name and could command a strong free agent deal. He’s not worth it and is only getting older. It’s time for the chiefs to take a chance and get younger. Cut him.

Houston will be given the choice: take a pay cut or be cut.

Hopefully he takes the pay cut.

I guess there is a chance Veach would keep him for another year at his current salary if he refuses the pay cut but unlikely.

KC saves $14 million if they straight up release him this year...He's completely off the books after this season. They'll have to weigh if he is even worth that $14 mil. Speaks/Kpass were drafted for this eventuality..

They save $14 million by releasing Watkins next year.

They save $5.5 million next year dumping the bloated Berry contract. (good god what a TERRIBLE contract...one of the worst in NFL history)

Chiefs need to shed all of these older contracts...(and Watkins). Flip that money to Hill and Jones. Front load both of their guaranteed $$ now to clear space for the eventual Mahomes trillion dollar contract. Draft one of the Iowa TEs in the 1st, sign a vet CB, hope Pringle is legit, then go all defense again and reshape it for a 4-3 rebuild.

It's in KC's best interest to keep Fant away from NE....while providing insurance/complimentary chess piece for Kelce. He's getting some mileage on him...and would be a great mentor.

I love that you.bold the important parts of your post

This is certainly what it needs to be.

It’d be awesome to keep both Houston and Ford but the truth is, the Chiefs have won a bunch of games without each of them over the past few years at some point or another, and I’ll expect no different if one of them isn’t around in 2019.