The Detroit Lions made a significant splash by striking a deal with Cameron Sutton on the first day of the free agent negotiating window, and they closed the deal very quickly.
The Detroit Lions signaled how their free agency mode would change very early in the negotiating window, inking a deal with cornerback Cameron Sutton a few hours in. Sutton is ready to assume a leadership role, as one of the oldest players on the Lions roster, and with how quickly the deal was struck it’s clear the Lions had him atop their board of free agent cornerbacks.
Peter King of NBC Sports, via his “Football Morning In America” column this past Monday, had some behind the scenes accounts of how free agent deals got done in the first week. One of them revealed how the deal between Sutton and the Lions got done so quickly
The Lions on Monday went hard after the former Pittsburgh corner, 28, and the deal got finalized somewhere around 2:30 that afternoon. Agent David Canter had told Sutton he hoped his contract would end up around $10 million a year.
Detroit Lions went after Cameron Sutton aggressively, and got it done
It’s fair to say $10 million a year would have been absolutely life-changing for Sutton, a former third-round pick. But King, via Sutton’s agent David Canter, had more details.
You’re gonna be a Detroit Lion in about three minutes,” Canter told Sutton, who was ready for anything. Canter said he didn’t have much time, but told him the basics of the deal: $22.5 million guaranteed, $33 milion total, with a signing bonus more than he’d made altogether in his last two years in Pittsburgh.
Really?” Sutton said, getting emotional.
Canter said Saturday, “He just started crying. He told me, ‘This changes my life. Let’s go to Detroit, baby!’”
Time will tell if the Lions were right to pursue Sutton as aggressively as they did, and give him the deal they did. But they clearly wanted him, and he surely had multiple suitors. They were presumably among the first in line to offer him a contract, and exceeded his agent’s expectations, so the deal got done….three and half hours into the negotiating period.