Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions could work on contract extension this week - if he has an agent
Ndamukong Suh seems like a bright businessman.
He occasionally hangs out with billionaire investor Warren Buffett in the off-season. He has built a personal brand immune to — or perhaps with the help of — some minor on- and off-field troubles. His post-football career appears well thought out.
And maybe this is Business 101. Deadlines spur deals, after all, and for Suh and the Detroit Lions, there’s no more pressing deadline then the start of free agency 4 p.m. March 11.
That’s when the Lions hope to have Suh signed to a new, long-term contract, which would lock up the game’s best defensive tackle and should give them enough salary cap room to accomplish what they need in free agency: sign a starter or two, like last year.
The NFL combine kicks off this week, and every coach, general manager and agent will be in Indianapolis. Along with the obvious weighing, measuring and interviewing of draft prospects, this is where league business gets done.
Teams meet with player reps over lunch or dinner or a 10-minute cup of coffee to express their interest in joining forces this fall and beyond — or at least until a younger, cheaper options come around.
Firm contract offers aren’t usually made here. Technically, that would be tampering if the player is currently with another team, and teams don’t want their deals shopped around three weeks before the start of free agency anyway.
The Lions will meet with the reps for most if not all of their free agents this week, and they’d like to sit down with Suh’s contract advisers as well. The only problem is, as of Tuesday, Suh still hadn’t officially signed with an agent — or if he had, no one told the Lions.
Suh has been linked to music mogul Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency since he fired his former agents last month. For marketing purposes, at least, that marriage appears set.
Suh reportedly attended several Jay Z concerts in recent months, and
according to Vibe magazine, Jay Z wore Suh’s black Nebraska No. 93 jersey when he played a concert at Suh’s alma mater in December.
But who negotiates Suh’s contract is still a mystery at this point, albeit one that everyone expects to be solved soon.
Suh, who was expected to pick from a short list of prominent agents, and perhaps Roc Nation as well, will have tons of leverage when his contract negotiations begin but never more than in the next three weeks.
His cap number this fall is more than $22.4 million, which would put his 2015 salary on the franchise tag (if the Lions would dare use it) at almost $26.9 million. Trading Suh is not an option, at this point, with no sense of where negotiations are headed — he’d still take up $19.5 million in cap room if he were dealt, and the win-now Lions would be without their best defensive player. And if the Lions don’t get a deal done this off-season, Suh almost certainly will void his contract five days after next year’s Super Bowl and become an unrestricted free agent.
From the Lions’ standpoint, there are contingencies in place if a new deal with Suh can’t get done, though none is ideal.
They could cut players
like they did with wide receiver Nate Burleson and safety Louis Delmas last week, a dangerous proposition for a team with depth problems as is. They could shuffle money around with simple contract restructurings for players such as wide receiver Calvin Johnson and safety Glover Quin, though that only serves to kick salary cap problems and tough roster decisions further down the road.
Suh is coming off maybe the best season of his NFL career. At age 27, he’s still in his prime and has never missed a game due to injury. He was voted a team captain for the first time last year.
There are plenty of reasons to keep Suh around for the next few years, and the Lions would like to make it happen. They just have to know when and where — in Indianapolis this week? — to begin.
Whadya expect for chrissakes!?!?! He was a fukking Lion. Then they 
at our sorry asses.
The Lions are incapable of not embarrassing themselves.
