BLOG: Fans Should Not Get Emotional About Lions Decision Not To Franchise Suh
By: Brian Chapman
@bchapsports
The Detroit Lions decided not to put the franchise tag on Ndamukong Suh on Monday which would have given him a one-year, $26.9 million contract to stay in Detroit (and/or the right to continue to negotiate with Suh for a long-term contract) -- and what do I hear from the fans?
Half of the fans want to take to the streets and protest because Suh didn't get the tag while the other half are so overjoyed they want to throw a parade.
What? Partying or protesting because the Lions decided not to pay Suh $26.9 million to play one season in Detroit. I can understand fury or joy over a long-term contract, but fans shouldn't be furious nor should they thrilled that Suh didn't get franchised.
Instead, I think they should all be breathing a sigh of relief because giving a defensive tackle who's not even the best defensive lineman in the game that kind of money would be silly and flat out reckless.
It's amazing to me how drastically so many Detroit Lions fans changed over the course of one year. A year ago, fans were incensed that Suh wasn't going to sign a contract extension that would have eased the burden of a $22 million cap hit for the 2014 season. They called him selfish and said that if he was a team player, he'd shrink that salary cap number. They also agreed that there was no way—NO WAY—that they could franchise him for the 2015 season for $26.9 million. That would be crazy and that's what all fans thought that. ALL of them.
Then sometime in December fans and media members started whispering about the unthinkable: slapping the franchise tag on Suh. Then the whispers got louder once GM Martin Mayhew acknowledged that it was a possibility. Before long, half of that same Lions nation that thought a $22 million cap hit for Suh in 2014 was outlandish started to rationalize forking out a $26.9 million check to Suh for one season.
Suh is obviously a great player and probably the best defensive tackle in the NFL, but he's not the best defensive player or even the best defensive lineman and he's not worth $26.9 million for one year or $18-20 million per year for a long-term contract. I wouldn't give him more than $14 million per year (which is a ton of loot.) Maybe the reason people want to give Suh that money is because he was the best player on the second best defense (in yards per game) in the NFL last year.
The problem is that Suh is cannot possibly be the reason the Lions jumped from 16th best in 2013 to 2nd best in 2014, because he was part of both teams. The difference was first year defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. Suh had a great year, but Austin's decision to blitz, Austin's use of linebackers, Austin's work with the defensive backs and everything else Austin did had a far greater impact on the team than Suh's high level of play in a contract season.
When I think of the Lions losing Bill Bentley, Nevin Lawson, Stephen Tulloch and Nick Fairley at various points in the season for the remainder of the season and not once falling flat, I give the credit to Austin for being able to plug in anybody off of the bench (ex. Tahir Whitehead) and get the same production.
Considering Austin was able to do that last year with so many players, I even wonder if his defensive scheme is so rock solid that it could afford to lose Suh and experience no more than a marginal drop off in quality.
Furthermore, Lions fans should be relieved because of simple math. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the Lions were $19 million under the projected $143 million cap heading into Monday, but they could clear up an extra $15 million in cap space by restructuring the contracts of Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford for a grand total of $34 million in cap space. He also mentions that George Johnson will get about $2 million in 2015 and the Lions will need about $5 million to sign their draft class. If you subtract that from $34 million, that gives the Lions just $27 million in cap space and if they slapped the franchise tag on Suh, they'd be left with a mere $100,000 to spend on free agents.
That would put the Lions in far worse shape than they were at the end of the 2014 season when they were a good, but flawed, 11-5 team because they'd enter 2015 with the same roster minus Reggie Bush, Dominic Raiola, Rob Sims, Rashean Mathis, Nick Fairley and CJ Moseley and without any additional free agents -- all because they decided to give Suh $26.9 million. Good luck winning the division with that roster.
Because they're the Lions and you can rarely trust them to make the right decision, I expected them to use the nuclear nonsensical option and destroy their 2015 season before it even started by franchising Suh. But they didn't and that's a good thing. When a team makes an obvious, no-brainer decision, there should be no joy. There really shouldn't be any emotional reaction at all. However, because so many thought the Lions were crazy enough to do it, just breathe a sigh of relief and take comfort in the fact that they're not that crazy.