Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey expressed great confidence on Friday that Justin Houston will play in 2016.
According to Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star, Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey believes that Chiefs star outside linebacker Justin Houston will play in 2016 after having offseason surgery to repair his ACL and LCL in his knee in February.
Dorsey: "Our doctors have reassured us that Justin will be playing this season."
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) April 22, 2016
Houston missed five of the Chiefs’ 2016 regular season games, but did return for their AFC Playoff run which featured Kansas City’s first playoff victory since the 1993 NFL season. Kansas City topped the Houston Texans effortlessly in the AFC Wild Card round before coming up a few scores short against the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional round.
Houston has been a four-time Pro Bowler and made the NFL’s All-Pro team in 2014. He has 56.0 career quarterback sacks, including a league-high 22.0 in 2014. He forms one of the NFL’s most ferocious pass rushes with fellow outside linebacker Tamba Hali.
With Dorsey’s increased confidence stemming from his talks with the team doctors, Kansas City should be getting the venerable Houston at some point in 2016. This would mean that the Chiefs’ team doctors think that Houston’s recovery is on the shorter side of the six to 12 months needed to come back from multiple ligament damage in one knee.
If Houston’s return is on the short end the expected recovery time, that would mean he would be available late in the preseason, probably in the first few weeks. If it does take 12 months, that would mean Houston would indeed miss the entire 2016 NFL season because had the knee procedure done in February.
Kansas City enters 2016 as a viable contender in the AFC West and could make a splash at an AFC Championship Game appearance, possibly playing in its first Super Bowl in over 45 years. Having Houston back on Bob Sutton’s fantastic defense will be a huge boost for Kansas City’s success going forward into 2016.
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