The Pittsburgh Steelers lost unrestricted free agent cornerback Cameron Sutton to the Detroit Lions on Monday, the first day of the NFL’s 2023 legal tampering period, as the former third-round pick out of Tennessee agreed to sign a three-year, $33 million contract with his new team. While the Steelers obviously would have liked to re-sign Sutton, apparently their offer to him wasn’t close to the one the veteran cornerback received from the Lions.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, sources told him that the Steelers’ offer to Sutton was “nowhere near” the deal that he agreed to sign with the Lions. Dulac, however, stated in his report that he does not know the exact offer Sutton received from the Steelers.
With the Sutton contract details now known, he will reportedly sign a three-year, $33 million contract with the Lions that includes $22.5 million in total guarantees with $10.9 million of that being a signing bonus. Of that $22.5 million, $21 million is reportedly fully guaranteed, which is nearly the first two years of the contract. If Sutton is on the Lions’ roster on the third day of the 2024 league year next March, the other $1.5 million will be fully guaranteed. For salary cap purposes, the Lions added two void years to the Sutton deal.
While we’ll likely never know the exact offer that Sutton received from the Steelers, it’s possible that it did not include the first two years of it being guaranteed. While the Steelers have recently guaranteed more than first-year money on the deals they signed outside linebacker T.J. Watt and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to, both players were considered top-of-market players when inked. Even wide receiver Diontae Johnson only received first-year guarantees in the contract that he signed last August.
When Sutton does finally sign his deal within the Lions this week, he’s sure to have a press conference with the media soon thereafter. When and if that happens, it will be interesting to see if he’s asked about the offer he received from the Steelers and if the lack of guaranteed money played a huge factor in his decision to turn it down.
After failing to re-sign Sutton, the Steelers decided to sign veteran free agent cornerback Patrick Peterson away from the Minnesota Vikings on Monday. That two-year, $14 million contract reportedly only includes $5.85 million in guaranteed money, which is the signing bonus.
