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Ndamukong Suh’s last offer from the Detroit Lions was worth more than $100 million

By Andrew Ross

Nov 9, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) before the game against the Miami Dolphins at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) before the game against the Miami Dolphins at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Miami Dolphins are about to make Ndamukong Suh a very rich man, but his former team could have done so as well.

Ndamukong Suh and the Miami Dolphins just shocked the world when news broke of the two sides agreeing on a six-year, $114 million contract with $60 million guaranteed.

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The deal will make Suh the highest-paid defensive player ever, and Suh’s former team was willing to give him that title as well.

According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the last offer the Detroit Lions gave Suh was a six-year, $102 million deal that had $58 million guaranteed. Detroit’s deal offered $12 million of overall less money, but the guaranteed money is what’s really important and they weren’t far off in that aspect. It looks like Detroit was hoping Suh would give them a home town discount by taking just a tad bit less than what Miami offered, but alas, Suh wasn’t interested in doing that.

At the end of all of this, it appears that Suh simply wanted to be done with Detroit.

If he loved the situation with the Lions, why would he decide to change his entire life for only a couple million more? He probably wouldn’t have.

Suh also decided to chase money from an inferior team. The Lions made the playoffs by going 11-5 last year, and they nearly beat the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the postseason. After being a joke for so long, the Lions were finally looking like serious contenders.

On the other side of that, the Dolphins finished 8-8 for the second straight season, and there aren’t many signs that point to them becoming a contender anytime soon (not even Suh can do that for them).

All the attention gets drawn to bringing in new free agents, but a huge part to being a successful team is keeping your own. While the Lions failed at that in the case of Suh, you can’t say they didn’t try.

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