The Detroit Lions made a surprising move on Tuesday, with the team waiving former sixth-round pick and edge rusher, James Houston.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler was the first to report the move, and Lions head coach Dan Campbell has since confirmed the decision. It is at least somewhat shocking considering the Lions' need along the edge.
In tandem with confirming the move, Campbell explained the reason behind the team's decision to let Houston go to waivers, where he will almost certainly be claimed by another team.
"It just didn't... we had James up for a number of games... just never quite worked out," Campbell explained, per Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News. "Wish him the best of luck, and sometimes, you just need a fresh start and this can be great for him."
We had a hint that Houston might be out the door in Detroit on Monday, when he dropped this cryptic tweet.
Live… Learn.. Move On✌🏿
— JTH⁴✨🐐 (@Jthouston_4) November 25, 2024
Houston exploded onto the scene during his rookie season recording eight sacks in seven games. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to develop his game further and has just one sack since, which came in one of his eight games this season. Houston appeared in two games in 2023 before suffering a season-ending injury.
While Houston clearly wasn't able to replicate what he did in his rookie season, it is still surprising to see the Lions let him go. After all, Detroit is down a pair of edge rushers in Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport and the team has only added one in the wake of losing those players in Za'Darius Smith.
Houston was seeing regular snaps since Hutchinson went down in Week 6, but he was barely used in Week 12, when he played just four snaps, which was the second-lowest total in a game he's been active for this season.
At just 26 years old, there is going to be at least one team out there that will hope a change of scenery helps Houston.
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