{"id":956036,"date":"2026-07-26T14:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T14:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/956036\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T14:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T14:33:15","slug":"50-days-until-chiefs-football-we-are-justin-houston-days-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/956036\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Days until Chiefs football, we are \u2018Justin Houston\u2019 days away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The No. 50 jersey will be worn by undrafted rookie center Pete Nygra going into training camp after linebacker Brandn George was waived in May; he wore the number during the preseason last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">There is one all-time Chiefs pass rusher that comes to mind when visualizing No. 50 in the red and gold:<\/p>\n<p>The memorable No. 50s in franchise history<\/p>\n<p>Justin Houston (2011 &#8211; 2018)<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Davis (1994 &#8211; 1998)<\/p>\n<p>Willie Gay Jr. (2020 &#8211; 2023)<\/p>\n<p>Kawika Mitchell (2003 &#8211; 2006)<\/p>\n<p>Mike Vrabel (2009 &#8211; 2010)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">At the dawn of head coach Andy Reid\u2019s tenure, the defense was the catalyst in team success, and the top pass rusher was outside linebacker Justin Houston in his prime. In 2014, he nearly eclipsed the NFL\u2019s all-time single-season sack record when he racked up 22.5. He was one of the most unique combinations of power and athleticism in football before a knee injury took him off an all-time career path.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Willie Gay Jr. is still a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thephinsider.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Dolphins<\/a> after never realizing his potential in Kansas City, once a second-round pick with playmaking upside. He will always be remembered fondly in Chiefs Kingdom for his personality and charisma.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\"><a href=\"https:\/\/patspulpit.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New England Patriots<\/a> head coach Mike Vrabel wore No. 50 during his two years with the Chiefs, catching two touchdowns wearing that jersey.<\/p>\n<p>50: The number of solo tackles by former Chiefs safety Bryan Cook last season<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">50 solo tackles ranked fourth among Chiefs defenders last season, with Chamarri Conner (75), Nick Bolton (73) and Drue Tranquill (55) finishing above the safety who moved onto sign with the <a href=\"https:\/\/cincyjungle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> in free agency this offseason, Bryan Cook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That role is projected to be filled by veteran safety Alohi Gilman, but can he be as reliable of a tackler as Cook was? Cook missed just 5.6% of his tackle attempts last year, according to Pro Football Focus. Gilman missed 16.4% of his tackle attempts last season, with his focus primarily on being back-end support in coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Conner and third-year safety Jaden Hicks may be counted on to make up for the sure tackling that will be missing with Cook\u2019s absence this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The No. 50 jersey will be worn by undrafted rookie center Pete Nygra going into training camp after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,80177,9623,2438,2437,6],"class_list":["post-956036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-chiefs","tag-football","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-analysis","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-history","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascitychiefs","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116986773708605681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}