1) Ndamukong Suh, DT Detroit Lions
The free agent saga of Ndamukong Suh is going to be a wild one.
Detroit would love to keep their best defensive player around for the next few seasons (at a minimum), but Suh is already operating on a comically huge contract ($22.4 million cap hit in 2014), and that basically removes the possibility of the Lions handing out a franchise tag that would be worth more than $25 million.
It should be noted that Detroit isn’t fully out of the picture, as they could simply re-up him on another massive long-term contract, but regardless of their availability, Suh is going to get paid in a significant way. The 27-year-old defensive tackle has 36 sacks in five seasons, which is a staggering total for an interior lineman, and his general disruption is the center of what was a tremendous Detroit defense in 2014.
For all of the scorn that his on-field antics (i.e. the Aaron Rodgers “stomp” in Week 17) garner, Suh is considered a high-end community guy off the field, and there is no indication that his contract value will slip. In short, he has a real chance to make more money than J.J. Watt just received from the Houston Texans, and Suh is the second-best defensive lineman in football today.
This is the perfect free agent storm of a player in his absolute prime hitting free agency because of odd circumstances, and the intrigue is just getting started.