Former Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton gets eight-game suspension

According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, former Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton has been suspended for the first eight games of the 2024 season for violating the league's Personal Conduct Policy. ESPN's Adam Schetter added Sutton is not appealing the suspension.

The Lions were essentially stuck Sutton this year after he had a rough debut season for them last year. Then a warrant for his arrest in Florida was publicized on March 20, and they released him the next day. It was later found he was in the building at Allen Park when the warrant news came across social media, nearly two weeks after it had been issued, and it was still 10 days after he was released by the Lions when he turned himself in (March 31).

Sutton was originally charged with felony domestic battery by strangulation, but the charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor. The details of the charge are disturbing, to say the least. He agreed to enter a Domestic Violence Intervention Program.

Sutton eventually signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he played his first six NFL seasons. Now he'll be unavailable to them for the first two months of the season. He will be eligible for reinstatement on Oct. 29, the day after Pittsburgh's Week 8 game against the New York Giants.

Cameron Sutton suspension stands to benefit the Lions

At the time of his release, the Lions voided all of Sutton's $10.5 million in guaranteed salary for this year. That has not hit their books fully as extra cap space yet, pending the league looking into it and Sutton apparently planning to file or having filed a grievance he seemed destined to lose.

The NFL's investigation into Sutton's situation found enough to warrant suspending him eight games for violating the Personal Conduct Policy. That seemingly tilts things well toward the Lions on the matter of voiding all of his 2024 salary. It's unclear if Sutton will proceed with the grievance now, wherever that process is, but it doesn't make much sense to go any further with it now.

Nothing besides Sutton's suspension is fully known or official right now. But the league suspending him like it did is great news for the Lions in their quest to recapture all of his salary from this year.