KANSAS CITY, MO - NOVEMBER 29: Tyrod Taylor #5 of the Buffalo Bills avoids a sack attempt by Justin Houston #50 of the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium during the first quarter of the game on November 29, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Chiefs finally got to have Justin Houston back for a full season last year. Even though Houston is now healthy are they preparing for his departure?

In 2014, Justin Houston had just completed one of the best seasons by a defensive player in recent memory. Houston spent that year in the opponent’s backfield, racking up 22 sacks in the final year of his contract. That performance was the major reason why he ended up earning a six-year, $101 million-dollar extension with $52.5 million guaranteed—a contract that at the time made him the highest paid linebacker in NFL history.

Fast forwarding to today things have changed. Houston was plagued by an ACL injury that he suffered playing against the Buffalo Bills when former teammate Ron Parker accidentally swung his foot into Houston’s knee while attempting to make a tackle. That knee injury caused Houston to miss 16 of the next 32 regular season games during the 2015-2016 seasons.

Houston had his first healthy season since the injury this past year and recorded a stat line of 59 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 5 passes defended, and 1 fumble recovery. Is this enough for the Chiefs to keep him? Houston is a $20,600,000 million-dollar cap hit this season. That is the pay for an elite player, something that Houston was not able to replicate last season.

Is there a high chance that the Chiefs could cut him this late in the off season? No. The Chiefs would not be able to convince anyone that they realistically expect to compete if they cut Houston at this point. However, what about next year? With the Chiefs first pick in this year’s draft, they took DE/OLB Breeland Speaks with the 46th pick in the draft. Andy Reid has been quoted saying that they are going to try and play Speaks at OLB to start out with and move him inside on third down situations.

Now most people are thinking that this means Brett Veach has given up on last year’s second round pick Tanoh Kpassagnon. The flip side of that thought is that they are not giving up on Kpassagnon, but instead have drafted his future running mate in Speaks. Houston is due another $21,100,000 million dollars next season, $15,500,000 of which can be recouped by making Houston a post June first cut.

While the saying goes that you can never have enough pass rushers, the amount of money Houston is making right now compared to his overall production is just not in sync with one another. If Speaks proves to be competent, and Kpassagnon takes a big step forward in his development, we will have to at least be asking this question of whether Houston should be making that much.

I am in no way advocating for Houston to be released or traded. With that said, the NFL is a business and if you can get similar production at a cheaper price, the NFL is more than likely going to go with the cheaper option. Hopefully with another offseason of being fully healthy, we see Houston return to his former 2014 self. If not, we may be watching his last season in red and gold.