Say Goodbye to Suh Lions’ Fans

Many of the Detroit Lions-faithful have been holding onto hope that Ndamukong Suh will be back with the team this coming season, but I am here to tell you it’s time to start letting go of that hope. Over the next couple of days, Suh will be courted by the Oakland Raiders and the Miami Dolphins. The Miami Dolphins have already been named top of the list in the Suh-bidding-war, while the Raiders are not far behind.

The Dolphins expected offer is going to be somewhere north of $17 million per year, assuming there will be incentives incorporated, would bring the total to a little over $19 million per year.

The Raiders would have to come very close to that, while their cap space supports that they can come close, they cannot match what the Dolphins are going to offer. I estimate that the offer from Oakland will be somewhere around $15 to $16 million per year. Incentives would bring the total to around $18 million per year.

Now we look at the Lions, who agreed not to place the franchise tag on the defensive tackle. The Lions’ cap situation is not nearly as stable as the Raiders and Dolphins. Therefore, they won’t be able to come close to what Oakland and Miami will offer. I’m expecting, ‘IF’ there is any offer at all from the Lions, it’s going to be somewhere around $13 million a year base salary, with incentives pushing the number to around $15 million a year. As you can imagine, there is a marginal gap between what financial ballpark the Raiders and Dolphins are playing in and the ballpark the Lions are playing in.

I’m not going to beat-around the bush with the Lions fans, if Suh exits, this is going to be a very tough task for Jim Caldwell and his defensive coaching staff to rebuild this defensive line. Two starting defensive linemen (Suh, Nick Fairley) and a key reserve (C.J. Mosley) are likely gone. The one good thing that can come from this is that there’s a veteran defensive tackle in Vince Wilfork who was a staple in the Patriots defensive line for a decade. He’s available and the Lions can get him for a fraction of what it would cost to resign Suh. That takes care of 1 out 3 - the rest will be in free agency on Monday and in the draft beginning April 30.