James Houston Listed as Surprise Trade Candidate

Could the Detroit Lions trade James Houston?

In the past few days, rumors of the Detroit Lions parting ways with James Houston have started to make their way around NFL circles. 

Houston presents the Lions an interesting dilemma, as he has a skillset that is coveted by every coach in the league. 

Unfortunately, he still is not ready to be an every-down player in Aaron Glenn's defense. 

That is not to say Houston cannot reach that level in a year or two in Detroit's system, but pundits have started to wonder if Brad Holmes would consider adding pieces or draft capital by trading Houston. 

PFF, in a recent surprise NFL trade story, listed the former sixth-round pick as a surprise candidate to be traded. 

"While preseason football is not quite the real product, there are still many different takeaways to be had from the action leading up to the regular season," PFF's Brad Spielberger wrote. "Participation data can serve as a key indicator of a player’s location on the depth chart, for example, which made Houston’s 27 snaps in the second half of preseason Week 2 quite notable. Detroit rested the lion’s share of its starters and top contributors, yet Houston handled a significant workload in the second half."

In his rookie season, after spending the majority of his initial campaign on the Lions' practice squad, Houston recorded 17 quarterback pressures and eight sacks on just 92 pass-rush snaps.

In Holmes' tenure, first-and-second-round picks have been used on EDGE defenders. Additionally, with veterans like Romeo Okwara, Charles Harris and John Cominsky already on the roster, Houston could be expendable. 

PFF explained further, "It appears Houston may be the odd man out in Detroit, but the Lions definitely shouldn’t release a player with three years of cheap control remaining who showed a knack for getting after the quarterback on limited snaps last season. Many teams would be happy to take a flier on a developmental pass-rush specialist coming off a season with an 88.2 pass-rush grade."

While it is understandable that Houston's name will pop up in rumors, it is highly unlikely he will end up on another team this season.