James Houston Reveals Getting Cut Was 'Ego Check'

The Detroit Lions knew that rookie defensive lineman James Houston had a significant amount of potential.

Even though the talented rookie was cut coming out of training camp, the coaching staff indicated a strong desire to work with him to develop his raw abilities.

"We’ve been excited about getting him up. We’ve been looking to try and work it out for a while now, and it just hadn’t worked out maneuvering through the roster," Dan Campbell said, after Houston was called up to the 53-man roster. "We knew we needed a little rush, and we thought he could provide that. You don’t think the first game he’s going to get straight off there will be two sacks, but some of the things he’s able to do doesn’t surprise us.”

Appearing on the "Jim Rome Show" Friday, the Detroit sixth-round pick shared how getting cut aided him in realizing he needed to put in more work to reach his goals at the next level.

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“When they first cut me, it was like, 'Okay, I’m clearly not there yet.' That was kind of like an ego check for me," said Houston. "It allowed me to humble myself, and it allowed me to just put my head down and go to work.”

Working against Detroit's offensive line sharpened and developed all of the young rookie's tools. In his first NFL play, Houston was able to sack Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

“It was almost just like practice. Everything was so smooth. Everything worked just the way I wanted it to, and it was finishing," Houston said. "You don’t really get a chance to finish as a practice squad player. You don’t get to sack the quarterback or anything like that. Getting to Josh Allen, I knew that was going to be a task in itself."

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