The Kansas City Chiefs have re-signed star linebacker Justin Houston to a 6-year $101 million deal including $52.5 million guaranteed, sources said Wednesday.
The deal is the richest deal in the history of the Chiefs, as well as the richest linebacker contract in NFL history.
Last year the 26-year-old Houston had his best year in the NFL leading the NFL in sacks, with 22. He finished just a sack short of breaking the NFL record for most sacks in a single season, which was a record set by Michael Strahan back in 2001.
Back in March, Houston and the Chiefs were nowhere near an agreement on a deal, which caused the Chiefs to give Houston the franchise tag. Had he played under the franchise tag, he would have made about $13.2 million next year. Houston never agreed to sign that and instead skipped all of the Chiefs minicamps as well as other conditioning and practices.
Houston will make more than Houston Texans superstar J.J Watt, who last year signed a 6-year deal worth $100 million with $51.9 million guaranteed compared to Houston's whopping $52.5 million. Houston now becomes the NFL's 2nd highest paid defensive player, only behind the Miami Dolphins, Ndamukong Suh.
The Chiefs and Houston had until 4 PM EST to agree on a long-term deal, if not they would have had to wait until next year to agree on a long-term deal. The deal is good for both sides. Houston gets the money he wanted, and for the Chiefs, they get their star player back to wreck havoc on offenses while playing along-side another Chiefs star in Tamba Hali.
Houston has been to the Pro Bowl every year in the league except one, and will now look to build upon that success with his new tremendously-large deal.