I don’t remember the behind the scenes of the suh exit. Care to refresh my memory?
I hated the way Miami structured that deal. It was not only more money in the near term, it meant that Suh would be able to take one more bite at a big payday. It never quite worked out the way Miami or Suh had it planned.
Mayhew took a DT in the 2014 draft. It was Caraun Reid! I am with you though. Mayhew did a poor job of thinking it thru and planning out the roster construction going forward. Then out of desperation in the 2015 draft he threw a 3rd rounder to move up and grab DT Gabe Wright.
And then compounded the issue further by trading a 4th and 5th round pick on a solid but past his prime ngata.
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I think the Suh/Fairley pairing sounds sexier in hazy memories than it ever was in real life. When we drafted Fairley I was super pumped, expecting the Lions to just utterly dominate. As others have said, Fairley never lived up to his potential, and once he got paid, didn’t seem all that interested in trying to. Suh was a great player but a total mercenary. He was always going to go to the highest bidder. At least he was upfront about it. My biggest issue with Mayhew was his total misread of that situation, imagining that Suh had some sort of loyalty to Detroit that he could work with, and–especially–failing to draft Aaron Donald to replace him when he fell in our lap.
Bill Keenist (lions historian and VP of public relations for 20 plus years) along w guys like glover Quinn and Bell have talked about the lions didn’t do everything in their power to keep SUH, they didn’t match the offer and as players that told the team the organization wasn’t serious about winning. They weren’t committed to it. They had a number they wouldn’t go above and Miami went above it and when they didn’t match Suh was like guess you don’t want me.
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I think I remember something about that. Wasn’t suh also mad because Detroit made Stafford the face of the franchise instead of him?
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It wasn’t all about money with Suh, it was brand building. He always had eyes for the bigger/flashier market. I remember on another message board that I used to frequent that I was suggesting they trade Suh while he had value because he was outta here first chance he got.
That was probably the biggest mistake of the Mayhew era outside of drafting Ebron, letting Suh walk for nothing.
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craziness.
I think if Suh were to be drafted by this regime, he would stay. Such a great fit for how we get down…& MENTORSHIP (Not just coaching). Suh really should have hax a mentor that understood him.
Mayhew was 100% confident in his ability to re-sign Suh. He literally had every expectation of bringing him back. He proclaimed that he was able to bring back his free agents when he wanted them back due to his willingness to pay them. Mayhew was willing to pay him more than any other DL player in the league had been. Miami took it past Detroit.
Detroit didn’t draft a replacement.
Detroit didn’t pursue trade opportunities that emerged in his final year.
Detroit banked on paying Suh more money than anyone else would, then Miami happened.
Mayhew had invested in Suh the same way he had Stafford, as centerpieces to the franchise. Suh didn’t share Mayhew’s vision, though, and headed to South Beach on 6-year over 100 mil deal that was really 3 years at just under 20 per. The Lions were right there at just under 20, but didn’t serve up a rubbish offer that inflated the final 2-3 years in a way that would have forced a re-structure or make him a cap casualty.
Im not sure about peiples memories. Yes, Fairley was injured as a rook, and was inconsistent in yr 2-3, yr 4 he was terrific. Led the league in pressures per snap and the tandem of him and Mosely were the best vs the run.He was injured taking Ryan down as Suh came out of nowhere and took his knee out.
Austin praised his work ethic trying to get back fron the injury for the playoffs.
We could have resigned him for $5 million per, instead Mayhew panicked and brought in a name in Ngata, a 3-4 NT who did not fit Austins 4-3 under penetrating D, at more than we would have paid Fairley. Who would end up as a 2nd team all pro and team leader, loved by the Saints and his teammates.
His unknown heart condition forced his early retirement. Had we drafted Donald like several of us wanted, we could have had Donald, Fairley paired together rather than Suh, Fairley fir another 3-4 yrs.
That dismantling of the 14 Dline still angers me more than anything. That team was close to being A SB team.
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While that may be what Fairley signed for elsewhere, I don’t know that Fairley was going to sign the same contract here.
I believe he said multiple times he’d sign for that here, he didn’t want to leave
You know, I just looked it up and the Option # was only 5.5 mil.
Fairley did play lights out that last year before injury.
Still, his performance up until that point had led to his option not being picked up. If he were consistently the guy we remember at the start of 2014, his option would have been picked up.
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To this day I don’t get that argument. He virtually missed his rookie yr, coming back for the Saints playoff game, where he dominated. He was brought back to soon and was out by 1/2 time. Suh was suspended. While Fairley was in, it was a game, when he left we were blown out.
His 2nd and 3rd yr he still flashed, he put it all together yr 4. Which happens with rooks even on the Dline where it takes a few yrs. We paid Ngata an old player to play out of position i want to say $7.5 per rather than resign Fairley, and potentially Mosely as well.
IMO, it was stupid then, and still is in hindsight. We compounded the moronic decision of passing on Donald for Edrop, then lost Suh and let Fairley ,Mosely walk. Then sign Ngata. Fairley goes on to be a 2nd team all pro and team leader and our vaunted Dline a 1 yr wonder
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Oh really? How much did he want? Please tell us.
Everyone else in this thread has made it clear that he left for Miami for a bunch of different reasons … lifestyle, sister, jealous of Stafford, weather, team, etc. They all absolutely played a huge role.
Saying it was solely because Mayhew and the Lions didn’t offer a particular contract is dead wrong. Sorry.
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And that’s OK. We disagree but it’s all water under the bridge.
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Yeah to be fair we offered nearly as much as Miami, but Florida is a much better deal based just off taxes, and Suh wanted to leave and never lived up to that contract in Miami.
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Yes sir, and there’s nothing wrong with that
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Someone might have already said it…but the rookie wage scale was a disaster back then. We had Suh, Calvin and Stafford all making huge money on rookie deals, all picked 1st or 2nd overall. They finally changed that horrific rookie pay scale a few years back, it was punishing teams for having bad records which made keeping guys even harder.
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