Quote
RamBill
Ian Rapoport@RapSheetSources: The #Chiefs have had trade talks centered around star pass-rusher Justin Houston. With Houston’s cap number and the potential to franchise tag Dee Ford, Houston appears to be a rare top pass-rusher available. Teams have been calling with real interest.
Justin Houston’s days in Kansas City seem to be numberedWith linebacker Dee Ford in line for the franchise tag and plenty of other young, ascending players who need to be paid (Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones, Patrick Mahomes, for example), linebacker Justin Houston could be in danger, grave or otherwise. But before the Chiefs would cut Houston, they’ll try to trade him. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’ll create the impression that other teams want to trade for him.
Consider this carefully worded (possibly) tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Media: “The Chiefs have had trade talks centered around star pass-rusher Justin Houston. With Houston’s cap number and the potential to franchise tag Dee Ford, Houston appears to be a rare top pass-rusher available. Teams have been calling with real interest.”
But here’s the real question: Are teams calling the Chiefs, or are the Chiefs calling teams? It’s a critical distinction; the former means there’s a demand for Houston, and thhe latter means the Chiefs hope to create a demand.
If it’s the latter, it’s not the first time a team will have spun a story in the hopes of creating a market that may not exist. In 2017, Rapoport reported that teams were calling about a trade for Broncos safety T.J. Ward. In reality, the Broncos were calling teams about trading him. And when they couldn’t find a taker, the Broncos cut Ward.
As one source with another team tells PFT, the Chiefs are simply trying to drum up interest, and that a trade is likely only if the compensation isn’t significant.
Houston is due to make $15.25 million in base salary this season. A trade or a pre-June 1 cut would result in a $7.1 million cap charge. Keeping Houston would cost $21.1 million against the cap.
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profootballtalk.nbcsports.com]
I expected him to get cut or traded and he is my top target for the off season. Like the Talib trade last year, I'd give a 5th.
And before anyone says it's not affordable, it is. I know I've hammered on Brockers but his salary is what makes it affordable. I'd rather have that large salary reallocated to the edge.
If he's traded or cut, KC will immediately have $7.1M in dead money which is broken down as $4.1M was a signing bonus and $3M was a restructure spread over '19 and '20. What this means for us is, that's money that we wouldn't owe Houston if we traded for him.
After a trade, Houston's '19 salary would be $15.5M. His '20 salary would be $17.5M. Basically, the Rams would owe his base salaries.
The plan would be to trade Brockers for a 4th or 5th. And instead of resigning Fowler plug Houston in.
As things stand now, the Rams likely have plans to pay Fowler up to $9M. My guess is somewhere in that range. If you add that to the $11M they're paying Brockers, that's $20M.
My plan calls for paying Houston $15.5M and signing a cheap vet like Hankins/Danny Shelton/Mike Pennel for $4.5M or less. Same expenditure for the two positions but different names.
And you get much better production from the edge which is a critical need.
PFF had Houston rated as the 12th highest edge defender this year, 5th best in the pass rush grade overall, and 13th highest in their pass rush productivity metric which measures pressure created on a per snap basis.
As for stats, we'd be getting a guy who puts up 9 sacks every year, 5 FF this year, and an INT in 12 games.
