We are less than 48 hours away from the 2015 league year kicking off and free agency opening across the NFL. There is no bigger storyline this offseason than free agent Ndamukong Suh. Some media members have suggested Suh is the best player to be a free agent since Reggie White hit the open market in 1993. That is certainly up for debate, but Suh is certainly the best defensive free agent in a decade.
Suh has become the premiere topic of free agency in part because of the repeated comparisons some have made to Albert Haynesworth. Where do the Haynesworth-Suh comparisons come from? They were both marquee defensive tackles set to cash in for more than $100 million dollars in free agency. Comparisons end there, it's a lazy comparison that has been used to create a story or even recently have Haynesworth give advice to Suh.
If you are concerned about Suh being lackadaisical in practice and tune coaches out after receiving $50 million in guaranteed money, your skepticism is a little late. Suh already cashed in before he even took his first snap as a rookie with the Detroit Lions, signing a five-year deal worth $60 million with escalators for another $8 million. If Suh wanted to cash out of the NFL, collecting his paycheck and arguing with coaches while he was overweight, he would have done it years ago.
Some will have concerns about giving $100 million to a player who has a reputation for crossing the "sportsmanship" line. From stomping on Evan Dietrich-Smith in 2011, stepping on Aaron Rodgers calf in Week 17 this past season and smaller incidents involving grabbing quarterbacks by the helmet on sacks. Suh's frequency of on-field transgressions seems to be declining, though he will always get near that line and sometimes cross it. Considering all of the recent issues with players surrounding violence against women, Suh's issues are minor.
There is no doubt Suh is one of the best defensive tackles in the game, with the ability to just flip the switch and demolish the man in front of him. He is the type of players the opponent always has to scheme against, finding ways to run plays away from him and try to neutralize his ability to penetrate into the backfield. The 28-year-old is just entering the prime of his career and unbelievably has even more room to grow. As the top free agent on the market at a time when six teams have over $40 million in cap space, Suh is going to become the highest paid defensive player in football.
Even with the rising salary cap, I believe giving Suh or any other defensive player not named J.J. Watt, $100-plus million over five or even six years is a mistake. Watt is a robot made in a lab, sent to Texas with the mission of destroying humans on a patch of grass. Suh is absolutely a dominant player, but committing more than $17 million to a defensive tackle is a step in the wrong direction for a team.
Committing nearly $20 million to a non-quarterback is the path to salary cap hell and needing a cap wizard to try and keep your core pieces together. You might be able to get lucky one year and all the numbers alight, but long-term you will be fighting every year with that $18 million defensive player to restructure his contract so you can even try to re-sign some of your priority free agents in the offseason. If you have a great, young quarterback who is due for an extension, you can guarantee he will be seeking $20 million a year.
This isn't about Suh being greedy, he realizes the dream situation he has landed in and he should seek every dollar possible to set himself and his family up for the future. Strictly from a team perspective in a sport with a salary cap, yearly contenders don't commit this much off their salary cap. They realize they are better off dividing that $18 million amongst two, three or even four players. Whatever team chooses to sign Suh for $100-plus million over six years will get a great player, but they will be regretting the mammoth contract in a few short years.