|
No
franchise
tag for
Detroit's
Suh as
Deadline
Passes
DETROIT
-
Ndamukong
Suh can
test the
open
market
when
free
agency
begins
March 10
after
the
Detroit
Lions
did not
use the
franchise
tag on
the star
defensive
tackle.
The
deadline
for
teams to
designate
franchise
or
transition
players
came and
went
Monday,
and the
Lions
did not
say
anything
publicly
about
their
decision.
There
was only
a report
early in
the day
on the
team’s
website
saying
the
franchise
tag’s
price of
around
$27
million
for Suh
proved
too
daunting.
Last
month,
general
manager
Martin
Mayhew
said he
was
optimistic
about
getting
a deal
done
with
Suh, but
the
franchise
tag may
have
been the
team’s
best
source
of
leverage,
and
actually
using it
could
have
come at
a
prohibitive
cost.
When the
franchise
tag is
used, a
team
must
tender
the
player a
one-year
contract
for a
figure
based on
the
average
of the
five
highest
salaries
at his
position
— or for
120
percent
of the
player’s
prior
year’s
salary,
whichever
is
higher.
It’s the
latter
provision
that
pushed
Suh’s
price
tag so
high,
making
it
difficult
for the
Lions to
use the
franchise
tag.
“Obviously,
you make
that
kind of
financial
commitment,
it kind
of
determines
what
else you
can do
during
the
offseason,”
Mayhew
said
last
month.
“So
that’s
something
for the
equation
— the
value of
having
him
versus
if we
don’t
get
something
done
long
term and
losing
him,
what
we’re
able to
get
accomplished
during
the
offseason.”
Suh has
been a
force in
the
middle
of
Detroit’s
defensive
line
ever
since
the
Lions
drafted
him with
the
second
overall
pick in
2010. He
has 36
sacks in
five
seasons,
including
8½ in
2014,
when the
Lions
made the
playoffs
as a
wild
card.
Suh has
been hit
with
several
fines in
his
career
for his
aggressive
on-field
actions,
and he
was
nearly
suspended
for
Detroit’s
playoff
game at
Dallas
last
season —
a
one-game
ban for
stepping
on Green
Bay
quarterback
Aaron
Rodgers
was
overturned
on
appeal.
But that
has done
little
to
detract
from
Suh’s
value to
the
Lions,
who now
face the
prospect
of
having
to bid
against
other
teams
for the
28-year-old
All-Pro’s
services. |