No Ndamukong Suh, No Ndamukong Problem: How The Lions Defense Can Survive

Even since the Detroit Lions announced they would not use the Franchise Tag on Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions fans have been wringing their hands at the thought of losing the best defensive tackle in the game to free agency. Although Ndmaukong Suh will be a great loss to the defense if he leaves Detroit for greener pastures it’s not the end of football at Ford Field.

In fact there are plenty of reasons to believe that Lions football will be better off without Suh clogging up the defensive line and the salary cap. Both in the short-term and the long-term.

Duh…Cap Space

Lions complain every year that the team never has enough cap apace to fix the teams problems through free agency. Not have Ndamukong Suh on the rosters gives the Detroit Lions about $33 million in cap space. That give the team enough breathing room to plug some of the other holes on the team.

Martin Mayhew and company can now able to make a run at many of the other quality free agents on the market, including the aforementioned pro bowl defensive lineman.

More Roster Depth

Last season the Detroit Lions had 38% of their salary cap tied up in three players; Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Ndamukong Suh. Unless the Lions end up signing Suh to long-term contract, that won’t be the case in 2015.

Now imagine for just a moment that Ndamukong suh got injured, a scenario that becomes more likely as the years go on. How would the Lions have plugged such a hole with the depth that was on the previous rosters. Spreading the Detroit Lions $33 million in cap space around makes the team better all around by increasing the rosters depth.

Long Term Flexibility

Contrary to popular belief Sun isn’t the only Ndamukong player on this defense. D’Andre Levy, Darius Slay and Ziggy Ansah also played a huge role in the defense acheiving a high ranking in 2014.

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Ansah and Slay contracts both expire after the 2017 season. Levy’s current deal will run out in 2016. If the Detroit Lions younger players continue to develop (and there is no reason to think they won’t) they will be expecting a pay-day too.

If the Lions were to give Suh a mega $100 million contract they would be hamstrung once again by a long-term deal with a big cap hit. That could keep the Lions from signing other home-grown talent.

The Austin Factor

In case you haven’t heard by now, Teryl Austin is good at coaching football. Unless you have been living under a very large boulder you know that the Detroit Lions defense was ranked #2 last season. The high performance on the defensive side of the ball was the main reason for the team’s success last season. But who should deserve the credit for that?

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Amist fears of losing him to free agency, fans are attributing much of the Detroit Lions defensive dominance to Ndamukong Suh. The all pro defensive tackle was a big part of that success but not the biggest. Teryl Austin had more to do with it than the boy named Suh.

It’s not as if Teryl Austin inherited one of the league’s top defenses. For years the Detroit Lions have struggled on defense and it wasn’t til Teryl Austin took over as D-Coordinator that the defense became dominant. In 2013 the Lions defense ranked 17th overall, 20th in 2012, 10th in 2011 and 12th in 2010. Suh anchored the defensive line on all of the squads. Teryl Austin took basically the same personnel and turned them into an elite defense. I will let you do the math.

If you are one of those fans who think the Lions defense is doomed without the services of Suh think about this. Eight teams advanced further in the playoffs than the Lions did this season and their wasn’t a Ndmaukong Suh on any one of them.

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