Back in 2014, the Detroit Lions seemed like they were closer than ever to getting to that Super Bowl after a solid 11-5 season. We don't have to talk about how that year ended in Dallas, but yeah, it was supposed to be the year.
One of the reasons the Lions were so good was that they had one of the best defenses in recent NFL history, and it was headed up by All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. He had another All-Pro season that year.
Everyone knew going into the year that he would be a free agent after the season, and he had to be the Lions' top priority. When the season ended, the Lions were unable to get a deal done, and Suh left Detroit for the Dolphins.
The breakup was bad, according to Suh, who still seems to be upset about it. With the Trey Hendrickson stuff going on in Cincinnati, J.J. Watt and Suh talked about how teams are always looking for hometown discounts. Suh had this to say:
"Yes, I 100% agree this is how teams do it, and this is exactly how Detroit did me and why I was forced to leave, because when it came to them paying me off of an elite 2014 campaign, they expected a hometown discount..
But they forgot they already got that from me in 2010 when I was supposed to be paid more than Matthew Stafford as the next first-rounder.
They said, 'We can’t pay you more than a QB,' I said, 'ok, I’ll wait until my second contract, and then you can pay me more than him because I’ll prove to you that I’m worth it and more!"
Looks like the Lions were looking for that hometown discount. The reported offer that Suh got from Detroit was a six-year deal worth $102 million with $58 million guaranteed. That's $17 million a year.
The Dolphins came in at six years for $114 million with $60 million guaranteed. That put him at $19 million a year, which, at the time, was more than Stafford. It was more than most quarterbacks.
At the end of the day, we'll never know what that 2015 Lions team could have looked like with Suh. Maybe they could have gone all the way. But they didn't.
