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.
In 2013 the Detroit Lions were 6-3 after the first ten weeks of the season. Things were looking good. Really good actually. Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler were both out for the majority of the remaining season with injuries, while Detroit was in the driver's seat in their quest to win their first NFC North Division title.
We all know how the rest of the season played out. They absolutely imploded down the stretch, losing every game but one dominant performance against a Rodgers-less Packers team on Thanksgiving, going 1-6 to finish the season 7-9. The kicker of it all? The Packers won the division with an 8-7-1 record. The division was there for the Lions' taking, and they squandered it.
Fast-forward to the present and the 2014 Detroit Lions are preparing for a Wild Card game vs. the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday, having just wrapped up a very successful regular season campaign. Last week Detroit went into their Week 17 matchup with the Green Bay Packers sitting at 11-4 and in first place in the division, but their 30-20 loss to Green Bay gives them a final record of 11-5 and the 6-seed in the NFC bracket.
Despite an excellent 11-5 season that fell just shy of a possible 2-seed and bye week in the playoffs, a number of Lions fans are still skeptical about having any sort of sustained success in the postseason let alone this success carrying over to future seasons.
I personally am not one of those Lions fans who is skeptical about the team's chances in the playoffs. But I understand those that are. We Lions fans have been burned too often and at times this Lions team has been…not good. Because of that, I decided to look at this Lions team and attempt to discern whether or not they're a legitimate playoff team with a bright future or if they're just Lions in sheep's clothing. First we'll take a look at the methods we'll use after the jump.
UPDATE (12/27/14): This morning I received a text message from a good friend who has connections in the Michigan Athletic Department. This friend informed me that two separate sources of his were telling him very similar things about Jim Harbaugh and the opening at Michigan. I asked the friend if he could share either of the correspondences so that I may share it here on the blog and he obliged. FWIW, after receiving the screen grab of the text, I verified that the source is very much someone inside Michigan who would be in the know regarding the kind of information he shared.
Below I have transcribed the text my friend shared with me, with the actual image posted below that:
"I know our top guys are in San Francisco this weekend and we are preparing the press conference for Wednesday or Thursday. Like I said on the phone, it all hinges on if (49ers general manager) Mr. Baalke and (49ers owner) Mr. York drag there [sic] collective feet but our understanding is that Mr. Harbaugh has a meeting first thing Monday morning with the decision makers in San Fran and we expect him to ask for his release. So as of now that's the timeline we project but these things always change last minute but I can say it's what we expect."
The scuttlebutt online today is that something official with Harbaugh and Michigan could happen as soon as Tuesday, with some saying Harbaugh will even be at Michigan's men's basketball game vs. Illinois that afternoon. According to my friend's source, UM is preparing for a presser on Wednesday or Thursday, but even he says at the end that that's only the timeline they expect, so don't necessarily take this for gospel.
Some outlets, most notably Bleacher Report, are saying it's a basically a done deal. I'd say there's a 1-in-1000 chance the Raiders could still swoop in, but overall, I'd take this just to say Michigan is in fact at the one-yard line and is as on the precipice of punching it in.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
University of Michigan interim athletic director Jim Hackett fired former Michigan football head coach Brady Hoke on December 2nd. It has been 3 weeks to the day since Hoke’s ouster and still Michigan has yet to hire his replacement. But we all know the primary reason for this: Hackett and all the Wolverine faithful are waiting for the San Francisco 49ers lame duck head coach Jim Harbaugh to become available.
The Niners’ season comes to an end this Sunday, December 28th. Once their season concludes it’s widely expected that San Francisco will officially cut ties with Harbaugh, even though Harbaugh has one year and $5 million remaining on his contract.
Everyone and their mother knows that Harbaugh is Michigan’s top candidate to replace Hoke as head coach of the Wolverines football program.
Hackett and Co. have been incredibly patient in their pursuit of Harbaugh - hiring the search firm Korn Ferry to thoroughly vet numerous candidates and never officially commenting on their pursuit of Harbaugh even after it was reported that Michigan has offered the coach a contract in the neighborhood of 6-8 years for $48 or $49 million, depending on whom you listen to.
In the blogosphere and Twitterverse, rumblings have been ranging from cautious optimism to outright claims that Harbaugh to Michigan is a “done deal.” And yet…skepticism remains from local to national reporters that Harbaugh won’t leave the NFL for the college ranks. (To be fair, that skepticism has been waning the last couple days, but it's still there.)
Let’s take a look at some of the more popular reasons these reporters and bloggers say Harbaugh won’t be Michigan’s next coach and poke holes in them after the jump, shall we?
 |
| Let's do this! |
