All signs point to Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh hitting the open market this offseason. As a four-time All-Pro who anchored the league's best run defense this season, Suh is likely seeking a contract in the realm of J.J. Watt's six-year deal worth roughly $100 million.
But along with the enormous expected price tag, Suh also comes with a reputation as a dirty player. He's been fined seven times for player safety violations since 2010, and has been suspended twice (although his most recent suspension was overturned).
Still, several teams will look past that and see Suh as a valuable defensive addition. Will the Washington Redskins, who ranked just 21st in the NFL in sacks this season, be one of those teams? Comcast SportsNet analyst Brian Mitchell believes so.
"[former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson] said I'd rather calm a fool than resurrect a corpse," Mitchell said Monday. "Ndamukong Suh occasionally is a fool on the football field, but he's dominant. He's a guy who lives in the backfield, he stop the run. That team was very good against the run because he lived in people's backfield. Now, we sat here for year after year after year, hearing this trash about let's get character guys. We have a bunch of character guys who can't play football, OK?
"I will say this: Is it a risk to bring him in? Yes. But are you willing to take the risk for a talent like him? I will say yes, because I don't think anybody in the alst 24 years that I;ve been in this town is more dominant or better than he is on a football field. And if you're going to get over that hump, you have to bring in star players. Dominant players. Not a bunch of 'character guys' all the time. Character guys, everyone always says, 'Oh, the team is so nice,' and you're 4-12, and you're 3-13."
Suh, 28, finished this past season with 53 tackles and 8.5 sacks. He has 36 sacks for his career.
Redskins fans will surely read Mitchell's comments and immediately think of Albert Haynesworth. Like Suh, Haynesworth was another dominant defensive tackle with character questions. The Redskins handed him a seven-year deal worth $100 million that included a reported $41 million in guaranteed money when he was Suh's age. Haynesworth's production immediately fell off as his work ethic and conditioning were rightfully questioned, and he was ultimately shipped off to the New England Patriots for next to nothing in 2011.
While Suh's work ethic is not nearly as poor as Haynesworth's, it still seems unreasonable for Washington to commit such a huge sum of money for one player when they have holes all over the roster. Mitchell is correct when he says that dominant players are the ones who make the difference.
The Redskins need to focus on building a solid foundation before handing out mammoth contracts. It's not as if the team is just one player away from contention.