Frederick Lamarr Houston (born June 24, 1987) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

outside linebacker. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Despite a promising start, Houston’s NFL career was derailed by a series of knee injuries, including two ACL tears, in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Early years

Houston attended Thomas B. Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. He played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He finished his high school career with 3,325 rushing yards and 49

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

as a running back and 239

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and 13 sacks as a linebacker. In

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, Houston competed in the throwing events. He got top-throws of 14.81 meters in the shot put and 48.31 meters in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

. Considered a four-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Houston was rated as the sixth best strongside defensive end prospect of his class.

College career

Houston started his college career with the University of Texas as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

but switched to defensive tackle as a junior. During his career, he started 33 of 50 games, recording 133

and 14 sacks. He recorded 10 tackles and a sack in the Longhorns loss to the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

in the

2010 BCS National Championship Game The 2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game was a college football bowl game to determine the national champion of the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and was played between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was ...

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

Houston was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round (44th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft, and started his rookie year at the left defensive end position. On October 9, 2011, a day after the death of Raiders owner Al Davis, Houston recorded 3 tackles, 2 quarterback pressures, and intercepted a pass by

Matt Schaub Matthew Schaub (born June 25, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played for 17 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the th ...

in a 25-20 victory over the Houston Texans. On October 21, 2012, Houston recorded eight combined tackles, two tackles for losses, two quarterback hits, a sack, and a forced fumble in a 26-23 overtime victory against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

. During the 2013 NFL season, Houston moved to right DE from left DE for the first time in his career. During his Raiders tenure, Houston never missed a game.

Chicago Bears

On March 11, 2014, Houston and the Chicago Bears agreed to a five-year contract. The deal was worth $35 million, with $15 million guaranteed. On October 26, Houston tore his ACL while celebrating a sack of New England Patriots backup quarterback

Jimmy Garoppolo James Richard Garoppolo (born November 2, 1991), nicknamed Jimmy G, is an American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Illinois, where he set the school r ...

, while the Bears were losing by 25 points. The incident was similar to linebacker Stephen Tulloch's, who also tore his ACL, while celebrating a sack earlier in the season. In 2015, Houston moved to the linebacker position under new defensive coordinator

Vic Fangio Victor Mick Fangio (born August 22, 1958) is an American football coach who is the defensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Fangio most recently served as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the ...

3–4 defense In American football, the 3–4 defense is a common defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers. It is a called a "base defense" because it is the default defensive alignment used on "base downs" (1st and 2nd downs ...

. As a linebacker, he recorded a career and team high eight sacks. He did not play much during the early portion of the season until

Jared Allen Jared Scot Allen (born April 3, 1982) is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He played college football at Idaho State and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth ...

was traded; he played only four snaps against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, but recorded 28 tackles, five sacks and six TFLs in from week nine to fourteen. In the final nine games, he had seven sacks, the sixth-most in that stretch. In 2016, in the second game of the season, Houston tore the ACL in his left knee during ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

'' against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 22, 2016. On September 2, 2017, Houston was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. He was then released on September 6. Houston concluded his three-year tenure with the Bears with 70 tackles and nine sacks over 26 games.

Houston Texans

On October 11, 2017, Houston signed with the Houston Texans. During Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts, Houston recovered a fumble, and ran in into the end zone for his first career touchdown in the 20-14 loss. On November 28, 2017, Houston was waived by the Texans.

Chicago Bears (second stint)

On November 29, 2017, Houston was claimed off waivers by the Bears. He appeared in five games and recorded four sacks during his second stint with the Bears.

Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders

In April 2018, Houston worked out with Raiders. He was not ultimately signed. Houston signed a one-day contract to retire with the Raiders on February 12, 2020. On his retirement with the Raiders, Houston said “I really take pride in being one of the last hand-picked players by Al Davis. For that reason, I wanted to retire a Raider. Once a Raider always a Raider.”

Career statistics

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioOakland Raiders bioTexas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Lamarr 1987 births Living people American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Chicago Bears players Houston Texans players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Colorado Springs, Colorado Texas Longhorns football players