The Detroit Lions finally got their top draft pick Ndamukong Suh into training camp after handing him a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $40 million.
Lions get their top pick into camp after big-money deal
The Detroit Lions finally got their top draft pick Ndamukong Suh into training camp after handing him a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $40 million.
The Nebraska defensive tackle missed four days of training camp as he sat out waiting to agree on a deal with the Lions, who selected him with the second overall pick in April's draft.
Suh was always going to get somewhere in between top pick Sam Bradford's $50 million guaranteed windfall and third pick Gerald McCoy's $30 million, but the two sides found it tough to come to an agreement.
Detroit did not want to eclipse the $41.7 million they paid quarterback Matthew Stafford last year, and now Suh has finally accepted a deal which could total $68 million with incentives.
"Thanks to everyone that stuck by me and wished me the best, Looking forward to finally be in camp with my teammates!!! Stay tuned!!" Suh wrote on his Twitter page.
Catch up
Suh will now need to catch up on what he has missed so far, if he is to have an immediate impact in stiffening a dire defence in Detroit, which saw them become the first ever 0-16 team two seasons ago and win just twice last year.
A Heisman Trophy finalist, the six-foot, four-inch Suh has 12 sacks in his last season with Nebraska to become the first defensive tackle to win the AP College Football Player of the Year award.
His new team-mate, centre Dominic Raiola, is eager to get such a talent into training camp and learning his trade in the NFL, as he knows the Lions need to improve this year, and was left floundering at the money involved in Suh's contract wrangle.
"I think right now I stay out of it," Raiola said. "I haven't even shot him a text yet. I'd like to say, 'Hey, look, sign the damn contract. Get in here. You've missed some good things in practice.' Because we're going to need him. He's going to be a good player - he's going to be a great player.
"Of course you want to see him in here. I understand the business side of it. But you're talking in the 40 millions. I think you've got to get the name signed already, right?
"I think 40 million, 42, 43 million, I don't know what's the big difference, you know what I'm saying? Any way you cut it, after taxes, that's 20 million. I think you've got to get that name signed."
