Suh Long! Farewell! What Do the Lions Do Now?

On Saturday afternoon the news broke that Lions free agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had reached an agreement in principle with the Miami Dolphins on a record-breaking 6-year, $114 million contract that will guarantee Suh $60 million. While Suh can't officially sign the contract until 4:00pm EST today, it's probably a safe bet another team (like the Lions) won't be able to swoop in and change Suh's mind.

So let's assume Suh is officially no longer a Detroit Lion. It's a huge blow to the Lions defense, which was the 2nd-best defense in the entire NFL in 2014. The Lions basically built their defense around Suh considering his dominance at the DT position, so it leaves a large hole to fill through free agency and the draft.

That said, losing Suh gives the Lions somewhere close to $17 million in cap space they can spend on free agents to fill some holes they have at multiple positions like offensive line, cornerback and, of course, defensive tackle.

So in this post not only will we take a look at which free agents the Lions might go after, we'll be taking a look at why the Lions might consider switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense now that Suh leaving. In fact, after the jump that's the first part we're going to tackle.

Where Could Ndamukong Suh Sign?

While the deadline to decide whether or not to place the franchise tag on star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh wasn't until 4:00pm EST, the Detroit Lions announced they had made up their mind and were going to let Suh go untagged. Thus came the conclusion to the first part of the Suh free agency saga and the beginning of the next part. 

Suh is now scheduled to become a free agent on March 10th, should he and the Lions not come to a contract extension between now and then. Should Suh hit the market he'll arguably become the largest defensive free agent since Reggie White left the Philadelphia Eagles for the Green Bay Packers. 

Suh will be looking to become the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt currently holds that title with the 6-year, $100 million deal he agreed to with Houston back in September, which also came with a staggering $51.8 million signing bonus. As I mentioned in my post about Suh back in January, I predicted Suh would land at least a contract of 6 years, $102 million overall with a $52 million signing bonus. If he actually hits the free market, he'll probably make even more.

I still think the Lions have a real shot at re-signing Suh because they have exclusive negotiating rights with him until Saturday, March 7, when a three-day negotiating period opens for the rest of the league. But it's going to take a big contract to bring him back, which is why I think they're first going to have to let him see what his market is and they try to win him back.

So after the jump let's take a look at where Suh might actually wind up should he leave the Honolulu Blue behind, starting with a peak at the 20 teams that have more cap space than the Lions do. These numbers are each team's estimated cap space according to Over The Cap.