It appears as though former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has worn out his welcome in South Beach, and will have to take his talents elsewhere.
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According to a report from Jason La Confora of CBS, Dolphin’s owner Stephen Ross is willing to move on from the hard nosed all-pro who amassed 29 tackles (down from 41 the year prior) despite playing in all 16 games for the sixth straight year.
“Confidants of owner Stephen Ross told me during the season that the owner was ready to move on from defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, set to count a staggering $26 million against the cap. Does he have a change of heart now? Are the Dolphins buyers, or more like sellers? Teams have been interested in acquiring veteran pass rusher Cam Wake for years. I’d expect other teams to feel out the Dolphins at the combine. Maybe Miami rides things out, staying largely status quo, but if they don’t they could be at the nexus of several big transactions.
Suh still has three years on the six-year deal he signed with the Dolphins in 2015. He’s set to make a base salary of nearly $17 million and will count $26.1 million against the salary cap. If the Dolphins were to designate him as a post-June 1 cut, they’d save $17 million in both cash and cap space. The $13 million dead cap hit that the move would trigger for 2019 likely wouldn’t change Miami’s willingness to move on.
If Suh remains on Miami’s roster by the fifth day of the 2018 league year, then $8.5 million of next year’s salary would become guaranteed.
This wouldn’t be the first round of whispers of Suh leaving Miami. A report from October of last year indicated that Suh likely wasn’t in Miami’s plans following the season, a sign they’ve accepted the reality that building the defense around him hasn’t produced the results that they’d been hoping for.
