Justin Houston not talking about his contract: 'I'm here to play football'

Try as they might, the Kansas City media couldn't get much out of Justin Houston, who spoke for the first time since last season. Houston participated in the first practice but not many people were interested in anything other than his contract, especially the fan who yelled "Get your money! We need you!"

Houston said his focus is on football, and he said that in about a half dozen different ways. Here are a sampling of his quotes when he was asked about his contract today:

"That's in God's hands. I'm here now to play football. I'm not worried about that. I'm here to help the team and do what the coaches tell me."

"That's the past. Everyone is moving forward."

"I'm not worrying about that contract. When it's time for that to happen, it's going to happen. My main focus is football. If you're worrying about that contract it will slow you down on the field and I don't want that to happen. So my main focus is football."

"When it's time for me to get my deal done, it's going to happen. God has a plan so when it's ready to happen, it's gonna happen."

"I'm not even worrying about that. I'm here to play ball and focus on this season. I'm taking it one day at a time."

So that's that.

The one non-contract thing he said is that he stayed in shape this year, saying he was in "great shape".

I stayed in shape. I made sure I was going to be in shape when I showed up.

Most players say they're in the best shape of their life at this point in the year. But Houston didn't work out with the rest of his teammates in Kansas City so there was at least some question. OK, maybe not much of a question.