Now that Ndamukong Suh won’t be going back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where might the former Lions All-Pro defensive tackle land?
It appeared to be trending that way, but now it’s happening. With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signing defensive tackle Akiem Hicks on Tuesday, Ndamukong Suh will be looking for a new team.
Suh, the No. 2 overall pick in 2010 by the Lions, spent the last three seasons with Tampa Bay–getting a Super Bowl ring in 2020.
Suh is not the player he was early in his career with the Lions, when he earned four Pro Bowl nods and three First Team All-Pro selections over five seasons in Detroit. But he never misses games, literally never missing a game due to injury in his career (two missed games due to a suspension in 2011), and he remains a productive player (six sacks in each of the last two seasons).
Even in a lesser role in terms of snaps, Suh could play in any scheme and the market for him could take better shape as the calendar flips to June. That said, he probably wants to go to a contending team. So don’t expect a Lions reunion, as remote as the possibility has always been.
With Tampa Bay crossed off the list, here are three potential landing spots for Ndamukong Suh.
3 potential landing spots for former Lions DT Ndamukong Suh
3. Los Angeles Rams
As the picture above reflects, Suh played one season (2018) with the Rams–which ended in Super Bowl LIII (a loss to the Patriots).
The speculation that Aaron Donald could retire may ultimately be much ado about nothing, as long as the Rams adjust his contract to (at least closer) reflect his being the best defensive tackle in the NFL. But with or without Donald, the Rams lost Sebastian Joseph-Day in free agency and could still look to reinforce their interior defensive line.
As our friends over at Ramblin’ Fan have noted, the last time Donald had a contract situation/holdout possibility the Rams signed Suh as something of a contingency plan and wound up having both in the fold.
Suh could (and should?) be open to going back to the Rams, and they could (and should?) have some interest in him.
2. Retirement
Now that we’ve crossed into June, even if Suh seemingly should have some suitors, it’s quite possible there just isn’t a fit out there for him to play a 13th NFL season.
With career earnings of nearly $166.2 million (according to Spotrac), Suh could decided to retire and focus on his interests outside of football. He certainly doesn’t need the money, even if there are no real indications the physical pounding of 12 seasons has impacted his effectiveness on the field all that much.
If he were to call it quits, the Hall of Fame debate around Suh would start. An at-times controversial start to his career when he played for the Lions, as he crossed the line to dirty play, will follow him into that conversation and impact his candidacy. But let’s leave that aside.
Suh has 70.5 career sacks right now, which is top-100 all-time and top-20 among active players, with five career Pro Bowl selections and the aforementioned three First Team All-Pro honors. A Super Bowl ring and an appearance in a second Super Bowl is helpful to his Hall of Fame resume in a sense, but his statistics and accolades may fall just short of Canton induction for some.
Is Ndamukong Suh a Hall of Famer? Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe and I debate now on @undisputed
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 1, 2022
Suh registers 12th among defensive tackles on Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor with a score (84.38) actually well short of the average Hall of Fame defensive tackle (109.90). One more season, and another handful of sacks or so, probably won’t impact that “score” very much.
There are no indications Suh wants to retire instead of signing with a team right now, especially when it seems he still has something in the tank. But calling it a career knowing he could still play seems more likely for Suh than “leaving it all on the field”, and being the proverbial last to know he’s done three years from now.
1. Las Vegas Raiders
At one point, the Raiders and the Cleveland Browns surfaced as the top two rumored suitors for Suh and that has lingered. But with the Browns “still in” but having “backed off”, according to Brad Stainbrook of Orange and Brown Report, the Las Vegas cheese may now stand alone atop the list.
Source: #Bucs and #Raiders still in on DT Ndamukong Suh. Talks are ongoing with Las Vegas, while Tampa Bay will let all the options die down first. #Browns have backed off.
— Brad Stainbrook (@StainbrookNFL) May 31, 2022
With the Raiders adding pieces along the defensive line this offseason in free agency (Bilal Nichols, Vernon Butler, Tyler Lancaster) and the draft (Neil Farrell, Matthew Butler), Suh would seem like a strained fit. But having depth is never a bad thing, and even at 35 years old Suh is arguably a better player than any of the above defensive tackles the Raiders have.
Las Vegas needs all the defensive reinforcements it can get to stop the opposing offenses in a now loaded-up AFC West. Suh may be eyeing teams with a better chance to win a Super Bowl, but if he wants to keep playing the Raiders may give him one of few (if not the only) chance to sign in the coming days or weeks.