Drew Sharp: Detroit Lions must learn from fiscally responsible Seahawks, let Ndamukong Suh walk February 4, 2014 
Ndamukong Suh / File photo By Drew Sharp Detroit Free Press Columnist It never fails. The coronation of the new NFL king raises the hopes of next year’s challengers to the throne. Seattle won its first Super Bowl with a physically punishing and exceptionally quick-to-the-ball defense, reinforcing the platitude of “defense wins championships.”But it’s not that simple with the Seahawks. They proved that excellent defensive value wins championships in a salary-cap age that still financially rewards the offense more than the defense. They proved the incalculable value in strong collegiate scouting with a starting Super Bowl defense that included only three players drafted in the first two rounds and one significant free-agent signing. The rest were either undrafted free agents or middle- to late-round draft picks.The Seahawks’ formula is an excellent defense at a bargain price, guaranteeing them the financial flexibility to absorb the maximum cost of two high-profile offensive players while still leaving plenty of salary space for defensive quality and depth.The Lions are the antithesis of the Seahawks. They’re fiscal slaves to their few stars, still paying for their competitive sins when they had top two overall picks in three out of four drafts. They rely far too much on free agency defensively because of their inability in identifying and developing middle- and low-round draft picks.The Seattle formula is why the Lions shouldn’t sign Ndamukong Suh to an extension. The smart move is trading him for draft picks that could help extricate them from salary-cap purgatory.The operative word there, of course, is “could.”It’s not that Suh is a malcontent troublemaker as one national report suggested. It simply doesn’t make fiscal sense when there remain so many potholes on the defensive side of the ball.But the Lions lack such necessary foresight. They’ve established a win-now mandate with the hiring of coach Jim Caldwell. But they currently don’t even rank in the top half of the NFC.According to the web site OverTheCap.com, the Lions have more money invested in three players than any other team in the NFL. Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Suh comprise more than $51 million in salary. Suh’s $22.4-million 2014 cap figure gives him the necessary leverage in negotiating a new contract that shifts the money he continually backloaded into a massive upfront signing bonus that the Lions can prorate over the length of the contract and modestly bring down his salary-cap number.The Lions rank third in top-five player investment at $65.3 million, trailing only Pittsburgh and Dallas. The league average for top-five player investment is just over $50 million.Seattle ranked 12th at $52.3 million.Super Bowl MVP linebacker Malcolm Smith was a seventh-round pick. Cornerback Richard Sherman and strong safety Kam Chancellor were fifth-round picks. The other starting cornerback, Byron Maxwell, was a sixth-round selection.The only two first-round picks on Seattle’s starting defense were outside linebacker/pass rusher Bruce Irvin (15th overall in 2011) and free safety Earl Thomas (14th overall in 2010).The only significant defensive free agent added was former Lion Cliff Avril, who didn’t get the four-year deal he sought, “settling” for a two-year, $13-million contract. But he got a ring.It wasn’t that long ago when the Seahawks were almost as pathetic as the Lions. They were 9-23 in 2008-09. But finally finding the right formula gave them the right result Sunday night — still an unattainable dream for Detroit.
Pay da man! ::)
They should let go an elite player and hopefully replace him with late round picks?That's a great idea.
Hawks are financially responsible? They paid Sidney Rice a crap ton of jack for example. They were smart and bought a lot of talent in a very suppressed FA market last year. The biggest thing is that they are lucky right now that they have a lot of young talent. They will be shedding players as they have to sign Thomas, Sherman, Wilson and such to new deals over the next few years. You can't escape the fact that if you have top talent it costs you money they key is know ing who really is elite and if you should pay them to be elite at their position.
Agreed Dalbuc. They saved a lot of money this year by having their best three players still on rookie contracts (wilson, Sherman, Earl Thomas) That makes them a excellent drafting team, not neccessary a fiscally responsible one. We'll figure out how responsible they are in the next few years when all three of those players want more than 10 million per year with Wilson likely commanding a salary upwards of $15 million a year.
Its amazing people actually get paid to writer crappy articles like this.
Lions are similar to the Bucs, out of whack salary structure. Only difference is Lions screwed themselves with the Stafford contract. Lions have a huge problem and the only way to fix it is hope someone offers a good trade for Suh. They can't get rid of Stafford until 2016.
Interesting enough, the West Coast scout who found alot of these mid to late round gems for the Seahwaks is Eric Stokes. Lets hope he can do the same for the Bucs
Hawks are financially responsible? They paid Sidney Rice a crap ton of jack for example. They were smart and bought a lot of talent in a very suppressed FA market last year. The biggest thing is that they are lucky right now that they have a lot of young talent. They will be shedding players as they have to sign Thomas, Sherman, Wilson and such to new deals over the next few years. You can't escape the fact that if you have top talent it costs you money they key is know ing who really is elite and if you should pay them to be elite at their position.
Lets not forget the price they paid for Percy Harvin. I know its picks vs. cash...but that was a dumb move IMO. One that I would not classify as financially responsible.Suh can come here. I would be okay with dumping Revis/Nicks etc and signing Suh to play along side McCoy.
Lions are similar to the Bucs, out of whack salary structure. Only difference is Lions screwed themselves with the Stafford contract. Lions have a huge problem and the only way to fix it is hope someone offers a good trade for Suh. They can't get rid of Stafford until 2016.
Just a thought. If you were the Texans, would you trade your #1 for Suh?
Lions are similar to the Bucs, out of whack salary structure. Only difference is Lions screwed themselves with the Stafford contract. Lions have a huge problem and the only way to fix it is hope someone offers a good trade for Suh. They can't get rid of Stafford until 2016.
Revis' contract is just ridiculous at $16million a year. We could sign a very good pass rusher and 2 above average DBs and we'd probably be better off.
Hawks are financially responsible? They paid Sidney Rice a crap ton of jack for example. They were smart and bought a lot of talent in a very suppressed FA market last year. The biggest thing is that they are lucky right now that they have a lot of young talent. They will be shedding players as they have to sign Thomas, Sherman, Wilson and such to new deals over the next few years. You can't escape the fact that if you have top talent it costs you money they key is know ing who really is elite and if you should pay them to be elite at their position.
They also paid Charlie Whitehurst and Matt Flynn $10 mil each! They're fortunate to have the richest owner in the league who's willing to eat more than a few bad contracts.
Lions are similar to the Bucs, out of whack salary structure. Only difference is Lions screwed themselves with the Stafford contract. Lions have a huge problem and the only way to fix it is hope someone offers a good trade for Suh. They can't get rid of Stafford until 2016.
Just a thought. If you were the Texans, would you trade your #1 for Suh?
No
Lions are similar to the Bucs, out of whack salary structure. Only difference is Lions screwed themselves with the Stafford contract. Lions have a huge problem and the only way to fix it is hope someone offers a good trade for Suh. They can't get rid of Stafford until 2016.
Revis' contract is just ridiculous at $16million a year. We could sign a very good pass rusher and 2 above average DBs and we'd probably be better off.
McCoy has a $15.6M cap number too. Of the top 10 non-QB cap numbers, we have 2 of them.
Didn't even read the article. The title is absolutely stupid. Seahawks aren't fiscally responsible. And the Lions are not amd should not let him just walk. This is nothing more than a troll article. I wonder if said author will be preaching the same thing when it's time for the Seahawks to re-up their key players. Earl Thomas will probably be the highest paid safety in the league, Sherman will probably be one of the highest paid corners in the league. Can't believe I opened this crap.
