The eight-game suspension imposed Monday on Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton wipes out eight of his eighteen game checks. With a base salary of $1.21 million, that translates to $537,777 in lost wages for 2024.
The cost to Sutton was much more than that.
Immediately after the Lions became aware that he was wanted on (at the time) felony charges, they voided his guaranteed salary for 2024 and released him. That was $10.5 million, gone for good.
If the Lions hadn’t cut Sutton, he would have lost $4.667 million in salary. The Lions also would have been able to recover a portion of his $10.9 million signing bonus from 2023.
The Lions, however, didn’t hesitate to move on from Sutton. The Steelers ultimately had no qualms about bringing him back. The fact, however, that the NFL ultimately suspended Sutton for nearly half of the season underscores that, in the league’s opinion, Sutton deserved to miss eight games without pay for his misconduct.
The NFL announced on Monday that Steelers cornerback Cameron Sutton has been suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2024 season.
The league noted in its announcement that Sutton violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy in March.
Sutton, 29, was released by the Lions that month — a day after the club learned a warrant was issued for his arrest in Florida for one count of domestic battery by strangulation.
The Steelers, who selected Sutton in the third round of the 2017 draft, re-signed the cornerback in early June.
Sutton spent his first six seasons with Pittsburgh before playing with Detroit last year.
In 101 career games, Sutton has recorded 44 passes defensed with nine interceptions.
Sutton will be eligible to be reinstated on Oct. 29 after the Steelers play the Giants in Week 8.
Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt is undeniably one of the league’s best edge defenders. But he also presents a distinctive challenge to quarterbacks when it comes to the pass game.
Entering his eighth season, Watt has seven career interceptions — two of which have come off of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. In an interview with the Pardon My Take podcast, Burrow noted what makes Watt so difficult to play against.
“Yeah, I can definitely feel [him],” Burrow said. “T.J. is a unique player in this league. There’s no other defensive lineman that I have to treat like a DB. I have to be conscious about where he’s at because he’s just going to jump up and catch it. And there’s nobody else who can do that.
“You have to be alert for him in the pass game, which is very unique, I would say.”
Watt finished second in AP defensive player of the year voting in 2023 after registering 19.0 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 36 quarterback hits, eight passes defensed, and one interception. The 2017 first-round pick has 12.0 sacks, seven passes defensed, and two picks off of Bengals quarterbacks in his career.
Wide receiver Martavis Bryant isn’t thinking about ending his bid to make it back into an NFL game.
Bryant was reinstated last November from an indefinite suspension that was put in place while he was playing for the Raiders during the 2018 season. Bryant had repeated violations of the league’s substance abuse policy, but signed to the Cowboys practice squad upon being cleared to return last year.
The Cowboys signed Bryant to a future deal, but released him in May. During an appearance on Queen City News in Charlotte, Bryant, who played in the XFL in 2023, said that he still feels he can be a factor as a pro receiver.
“I got a lot of football left,” Bryant said. “Still love the game, never stopped loving the game. I had to take some time to reflect on myself and get my situation straight off the field. I did that. I put in a lot of work. There’s still so much left I can do. I know I can contribute to somebody that wants to give me the opportunity.”
Bryant said he spoke with Panthers senior assistant Jim Caldwell at a recent event, but gave no indication that there was anything brewing with the team. He worked out with the Commanders this spring.
Bryant was a 2014 fourth-round pick by the Steelers and had 126 catches for 1,917 yards and 17 touchdowns in 36 games — he was suspended for the entire 2016 season — before being traded to the Raiders.
Patrick Peterson said earlier this year that he thinks he has a lot left in the tank, but no team has moved to sign the veteran defensive back since he was released by the Steelers in March.
During an episode of his All Things Covered podcast, Peterson said he’ll “definitely be ready” if he gets a call to join a team for training camp before noting that he’s not the only pedigreed defensive back still looking for a deal. Peterson and co-host Bryant McFadden mentioned cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Stephon Gilmore are unsigned and safeties like Justin Simmons and Quandre Diggs are also free agents.
“What do you think it is about the corners and the safety market at this day and age?” Peterson asked. “We know it’s a passing league, right? Why do you see so many high-caliber guys who’ve played at a high level — defensive backs — still free agents right now?”
McFadden noted the NFL rule that veteran salaries are guaranteed for the entire season if players are on a roster for Week One as a possible reason why Peterson and others have not found homes this offseason. Injuries or other developments in camp could also change that outlook and open doors for some recognizable faces to land in new places by September.
When Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward spoke to reporters late in the OTA phase of the offseason, he said he didn’t think an agreement on a new contract was imminent and it doesn’t sound like much has changed over the last few weeks.
Heyward skipped most of the voluntary portions of the offseason program because of his desire for a new deal and he didn’t have any positive update about where things stand during a Wednesday appearance on The Jim Rome Show. The Steelers have a policy of not negotiating extensions during the season and Heyward didn’t want to speculate on the chances that a new deal would be in place by that point.
“I don’t wanna say how likely something is ‘cause you just never know,” Heyward said. “Obviously, I would love to be a Pittsburgh Steeler for the rest of my career. Getting a contract would lay claim to that. My goal is to be a Pittsburgh Steeler this year and have a good year to hopefully come back and play more games with them.”
While Heyward’s choice is to stay in Pittsburgh, but “if it comes to it I will play in another city.” While discussing that possibility last month, Heyward mentioned having family in Cleveland but he said on Wednesday that he doesn’t think he could play for a Steelers rival with “such bad blood” if he does wind up moving on.
The 49ers would surely love to persuade receiver Brandon Aiyuk to play for the team in 2024, at a fifth-year option salary of $14.1 million. Whether Aiyuk is ultimately willing to do that remains to be seen.
Regardless, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the 49ers and Aiyuk are no closer to a long-term deal.
“For Aiyuk and the 49ers, they had conversations recently,” Garafolo said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “They are no closer to a deal, from my understanding, but they are also no closer to a trade request. That’s never been something that he has explored in this case.”
There’s a game of semantics going on between the 49ers and Aiyuk. Even if he hasn’t asked to be traded, we believe his agent was given permission to seek a trade before the draft. The goal, we also believe, was to let Aiyuk realize that no one else was willing to give him the $30 million per year he reportedly has been seeking.
Ultimately, no one was willing to give Aiyuk what he wants in a contract and what the 49ers want in a trade. Otherwise, a trade would have happened.
If Aiyuk wants something more than the $14.1 million he’s due to make, he might have to take a stand. Whether he does or doesn’t remains to be seen. The deeper question is whether the 49ers will blink for Aiyuk, the same way they did a year ago with defensive end Nick Bosa.
In each of the last two NFL drafts, the Steelers have used their first-round pick on a player who played left tackle in college. In 2023, that was Broderick Jones, who is now the Steelers’ starting left tackle. In 2024, it was Troy Fautanu, who will move to right tackle in Pittsburgh.
The move to the other side can be difficult for a lineman, but Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer says Fautanu has made fast progress in figuring out how to play on the right side.
“Troy’s learned a lot of the different techniques very quickly,” Meyer said, via ESPN. “The first couple days his timing was off because the speed of the game is different -- now we don’t have any pads on yet, so nothing’s going to be determined until we get into camp -- but his timing’s much better in terms of his get-off and run game and his sets and throwing his hands and being aggressive with his hands and whatnot. He’s improved tremendously from rookie minicamp to now.”
The Steelers are optimistic that they’ve found their two starting offensive tackles for many years to come.
The current expectation is that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk will be playing for the 49ers in 2024, but he has thought about what other options might be in play.
Aiyuk met with the 49ers this week and a report said that the meeting ended with both sides saying they were not looking for a trade ahead of the season. Aiyuk hasn’t gotten a contract extension, though, and the continued absence of one means that things could still flare up again before we get to September.
During an appearance on The Pivot, Aiyuk said he doesn’t feel the two sides are particularly close to striking a deal at the moment and he was asked what uniforms he could see himself wearing in 2024.
“If I were to take a guess, probably a Niner uniform,” Aiyuk said. “Probably a Niner uniform. If not a Niners uniform, probably a Washington Commanders uniform. If not a Washington Commanders uniform, probably a Steelers uniform.”
The Steelers have previously been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Aiyuk and he was once college teammates with Commanders rookie quarterback Jaylen Daniels, but the fact the 49ers remain the likeliest choice should give nervous 49ers fans some solace about where the wideout will be this year.
Quarterback Russell Wilson’s two years in Denver were a dud and some of his former teammates will get a chance to try to make sure his move to Pittsburgh gets off to an unsuccessful start this season.
The Steelers will be in Denver in Week Two of the regular season and Wilson, who is currently slotted at No. 1 on the Steelers depth chart, facing his former team will be the central storyline heading into that matchup. During an appearance on Denver Sports 104.3, Broncos linebacker Jonas Griffith said that he’s looking forward to the chance to spoil Wilson’s return to the Mile High City.
“I’m really excited obviously for any game I get to play in,” Griffith said. “But you see that one you’re excited to go out there and — beat the Steelers, first of all, it’s a great organization. I want to pick off Russ, for sure. I think that would be really cool, just to pick him off and get the victory, first and foremost.”
Griffith was asked by host and former Bronco running back Philip Lindsay if he’ll say “let’s ride” to his former teammate if he gets a sack. Griffith laughed while answering in the negative, but the Broncos are sure to be taking that home game a little more seriously due to their relationship with the opposing quarterback.