Justin Houston not expected at Chiefs offseason program next week

If you asked me yesterday to guess if Justin Houston would show up to the start of the Kansas City Chiefs offseason program on Monday, I would have said it's unlikely.

Now we have a report confirming that. Herbie Teope of Chiefs Digest has a source telling him that Houston is not expected to show up for the Chiefs offseason program next week.

Read Herbie's report here, which includes quotes from CBS Sports' Joel Corry on the challenges the Chiefs face in signing Houston now.

These are voluntary workouts so he isn't doing anything wrong, even though most players will attend next week.

Houston skipped out on much of the offseason program last year when he was set to be paid just $1.4 million. His franchise tag is over $13 million so I have a hard time believing this holdout will go into the season. That's a lot of coin.

So, if Houston skips the offseason program, will it hurt the Chiefs? It certainly didn't last year as Houston nearly broke the sack record after skipping the offseason program. I'm not all that concerned about his absence -- yet.

The deadline to sign franchise tag players to a long-term deal is July 15. That's likely the next time we'll see the Chiefs put out their best offer. If Houston declines it, he'll enter the 2015 season on his franchise tender (if he signs it, which he hasn't yet).

There is one mandatory part of the offseason before training camp and that is the mandatory minicamp on June 16-18.