In Jackson, Houston sees a special talent driven to win, the same qualities he saw in Patrick Mahomes, his former teammate with the Chiefs.
"When you have a quarterback like that, anything's possible," Houston said. "You know you're never out of the game."
Houston envisioned himself winning a championship in Kansas City as Mahomes became a star, but the Chiefs released Houston after the season to free up salary cap space. Recognizing how respected Houston was in Kansas City, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach and Chairman Clark Hunt both released statements when Houston was let go.
"These decisions are never easy," Veach said. "I have a great deal of respect for Justin as a player and person and I wish him and his family the best moving forward."
Kansas City traded for pass rusher Frank Clark shortly after parting with Houston, and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl the next year. Houston, who had signed with the Indianapolis Colts, had mixed emotions watching his former team hoist the Lombardi Trophy the year after he left Kansas City.
"I was happy for the guys, but not for everyone in that building," Houston said. "I wasn't happy the way we split up. I got released when they wanted me to take a pay cut. The way I saw it, I was already taking a pay cut because some other pass rushers were getting $21 (million) a year when I was getting paid $14. When they first paid me $14, it was top dollar. Then they released me and brought in another guy and paid him more? I was like, damn, this guy's that much better than me? I wasn't happy."
Meanwhile, things didn't go as Houston planned with the Colts after he signed with them in 2019. They had a talented franchise quarterback in Andrew Luck who had just led them to the playoffs, but during the preseason that year, Luck shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement at just 29 years old.
To say Houston was upset with Luck's decision would be putting it mildly.
"I was hot," Houston said. "It was a toss-up between me signing with Baltimore or Indy, both of them had great quarterbacks, and I chose Indy. Then the last preseason game, he retires? That wasn't a last-minute decision. He could have put that out there – look, I'm thinking about retiring. Not keep it to himself. I felt that was a selfish agenda. This is not a one-man sport. Your decision affected everybody in that building. I felt some type of way about that."
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October 05, 2021 at 02:00PM
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Cover Story: The Fire Still Burns For Justin Houston - BaltimoreRavens.com
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