Dolphins reportedly adding veteran edge rusher Justin Houston

The Miami Dolphins are bringing in some very much needed pass rushing help to its depleted defense ahead of their showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night. Per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, the Dolphins are signing veteran edge rusher Justin Houston. An outside signing was certainly expected. The Dolphins were down to only […]

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Jan 9, 2024 12:16 PM EST

The Miami Dolphins are bringing in some very much needed pass rushing help to its depleted defense ahead of their showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night.

Per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, the Dolphins are signing veteran edge rusher Justin Houston.

#Dolphins are signing veteran pass rusher Justin Houston, source says. Banged up at the edge, Miami adds an experienced player at that spot heading into the postseason.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 9, 2024

An outside signing was certainly expected. The Dolphins were down to only two edge rushers by the end of Sunday night's loss to the Buffalo Bills: Emmanuel Ogbah and Melvin Ingram. Ogbah is also not one who can drop into coverage well, so the Dolphins were particularly hamstrung by that limitation.

Mike McDaniel also noted in his press conference on Monday afternoon that they would likely be adding someone from outside of the organization. With a short 6-day turnaround from the season finale to their Wild Card round game, they wasted little time in finding that help.

Houston is a 13-year veteran who started his career with the Dolphins' opponent on Saturday night. He earned Pro Bowl honors four times and first-team All-Pro honors once during his first five seasons in Kansas City, recording an NFL-best 22 sacks in 2014.

He was significantly productive as recently as 2022, when he totaled 9.5 sacks in a reserve role with Baltimore in 14 games (just one start). This season he played in 7 games for Carolina with 0.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss.

The choices aren't typically going to be great when you end up needing help in early January. However, if the Dolphins can get flashes of the version of Houston from 2022, then perhaps their defense will have a bit more juice in their quest for the franchise's first playoff win in over 23 years.