Despite a promising start, Houston's NFL career was derailed by a series of knee injuries, including two anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

He finished his high school career with 3,325 rushing yards and 49 touchdowns as a running back and 239 tackles and 13 sacks as a linebacker.

He recorded 10 tackles and a sack in the Longhorns loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game.

Houston was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the second round (44th overall) of the 2010 NFL draft,[6] and started his rookie year at the left defensive end position.

[14] On October 26, Houston tore his ACL while celebrating a sack of New England Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, while the Bears were losing by 25 points.

[15] The incident was similar to linebacker Stephen Tulloch's, who also tore his ACL, while celebrating a sack earlier in the season.

[18] In 2016, in the second game of the season, Houston tore the ACL in his left knee during Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles.

[24] 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.