When the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs at Heinz Field during Week 4 of the 2016 regular season, they won’t have worry about game planning for outside linebacker Justin Houston as of Tuesday.
Houston, who reportedly underwent surgery in February to repair an ACL that was not functioning properly, was placed on the Chiefs Reserve/PUP list Tuesday and will thus be forced to miss at least the first six weeks of the 2016 regular season as a result.
Houston, who enters the 2016 season with 56 career sacks in 70 regular season games played, registered two of those quarterback take-downs in the previous four games that he played in against the Steelers. With Houston now sidelined for the next several weeks, the Chiefs will likely ask third-year outside linebacker Dee Ford to start in his place and opposite veteran Tamba Hali, who is also coming off offseason knee surgery.
Interesting enough, the Chiefs appear to have some interest in former Cleveland Browns outside linebacker Paul Kruger, who became a free agent on Monday. Kruger will reportedly visit with the Chiefs after his Tuesday visit with the New Orleans Saints.
In addition to being without the services of Houston for the start of the 2016 regular season, the Chiefs also placed starting veteran inside linebacker Josh Mauga on their injured reserve list Tuesday with a labral tear in his hip.
