I put an asterisk on this one because I am not 100% certain of the outcome here. Sutton had a salary guarantee for 2024 which was likely voided when he had a warrant issued for his arrest, but these can sometimes be grey areas that wind up in some kind of grievance hearing. If no guarantee remains then Sutton will count for $2.18 million on the cap this year and the Lions gain $10.5 million. If the guarantee sticks he will count for $12.68 million this year and the Lions gain nothing. In both cases he will count $6.54 million in 2025.
*** A couple of other comments. If the grievance hasn’t been heard yet, we may have to keep the guaranteed base on the cap for this year until their is a decision on the grievance. It’s also possible if we win the grievance, we won’t receive a credit until February as a “Year end Adjustment”. I can’t imagine us not winning the grievance and getting a credit at some point.
Yeah, there’s lots of gray area in this. We cut Sutton because of felony charges, which were later reduced to misdemeanors. And then Pittsburgh signed him.
Were the initial public reports massively exaggerated? Is not turning yourself in for a couple weeks a violation of a morals contract?
IIRC, Rod Wood said at the time that cutting Sutton had nothing to do with his play. Really?
Whether the Lions get a lot of money back or no money back, they’ll do it sensitively with an eye beyond the moment, with an eye on how any trickle down will affect the rest of the team. That’s how we roll.
“The Eagles have two players to put on the retired list- Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce. Cox will count for $4.2 million this year and $10.3 million in 2025. Kelce’s 2024 cap number will be $8.678 million for 2024 and $16.438 million for 2025. The likelihood of the players not being on the Eagles roster in 2024 was taken into consideration last year and both contracts were designed for a June 1 type move so the team will only gain $2.7 million in 2024.”
Howie epitomizes “there is no tomorrow”. What, me worry?
I think with Sutton the issue of him being in the building and leaving and not turning himself in was a pretty big problem. Pretty disappointing in the way Sutton handled this.
We and most people can and will conclude that. But in a hearing, where current facts like he’s now charged with a misdemeanor might matter, it might not be so simple. I dunno. It’s mostly tabloid interest for me. The Lions have moved on and have some Dudes in the defensive backfield!!
That’s all true. And he played poorly, especially as the defense became more aggressive later in the year and presumably as his private life tanked. We did say FU.
Does that void parts of his contract? If so, how does enforcing that void play in the locker room and to players around the league? I don’t have answers for either.
Yes, they’ve made that claim. I’m presuming there are counter arguments to be weighed because the players union doesn’t rubberstamp team claims. I think the Lions claims are valid and will eventually be upheld.
Will they enforce their valid claim in full or even at all? Andre Agassi got sh*t for saying image is everything; it isn’t but it accounts for something. Remember when Calvin retired, and Rod Wood and Friends enforced their right to retrieve a small sum of his contractual obligation? That didn’t play well in some circles, when the Lions were viewed as petty and cheap.
$10.5M is a chunk of change and probably worth contesting when the optics of battering a woman are concerned. On the other hand, Pittsburgh’s rumored interest in getting Cam Sutton back hasn’t generated any bad press (that I know of).
I’m just the question man and I can understand the OTC asterisk.
Yea not buying that. If Sutton was a lockdown corner I doubt we even release him. We see it all the time in nfl with top players getting special treatment. The good news is we got out of the contract because Sutton kinda sucked
I’m not sure I believe Sutton stays if he was a good CB. I’m pretty sure Sheila has a no tolerance policy on this stuff. But turns out Sutton sucked especially down the stretch. Him grabbing Puka’s jersey, and not getting flagged was lucky, and we won that game. Sutton should be cut for being a bad player. And it was the right choice since he choked his woman, was in hiding, and didn’t turn himself in. Who knows what the details of the story was, and I hope he can turn his game, and life around back with the Steelers, but no matter how this turns out money-wise, there’s no room fro these players on this team. Also, he sucked.
Sutton was running around on one wheel for much of the season. Hard to judge his play based on that. He toughed it out and should get credit for that in a poor CB room.
The real deal-breaker for me is the assault and going incommunicado. Appartently the ski mask routine was real for him. See ya.
I think cutting a player and voiding guarantees plays fine when the player in question has f—ed up like Sutton allegedly has. Every player in the league knows that criminal misconduct can lead to losing guaranteed money and potentially even their careers.
I said at the time and I’ll say it again, I’ll be amazed if it turns out that merely getting arrested is due cause for voiding guarantees. There’s no way that agents and the NFLPA allow players to sign contracts that could get messed up by a case of mistaken identity or an over zealous cop. I have no idea how the NFL will go about arbitrating this issue, and perhaps avoiding an outstanding warrant for a certain time does provide due cause, but simply getting arrested makes no sense at all.