Jaye Howard’s last contract year brought out his best and then he re-signed. Should we expect the same now that he’s coming off of injury into another payday?

Jaye Howard was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs on September 1st, 2013 after being waived by the Seattle Seahawks. Originally drafted in the 4th round by the Seahawks, Howard has been a polarizing player since his days at Florida—described by scouts as “inconsistent” and “disappears during games”, but with the potential to be a disruptive force in the backfield.

After Howard’s first two season in the league, he had started just 1 game and made 7 tackles. Since 2014 in 29 starts Howard has recorded 80 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. Unfortunately Howard’s 2016 season was cut short due to a hip injury.

Since Howard’s absence, the Chiefs have seen the emergence of last year’s second round choice Chris Jones, and the team also recently signed defensive tackle Bennie Logan from the Eagles. It’s expected that Logan will man the middle with Chris Jones on the outside as a defensive end in base defense. That leaves a battle between Allen Bailey and Jaye Howard for the opposite defensive end position.

Bailey also suffered an injury last season after starting the first 5 games. However, since 2014 Bailey is about as productive of a player in only 3 more games. Bailey’s stats in 31 games since 2014 are: 58 tackles, 9.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. The most likely scenario between the two is Howard will play defensive end and occasionally nose tackle in base defense. Bailey will be a rotational player in base defense and will come in as a defensive tackle/end in nickel defense (4-2-5).