One day after an arrest warrant was issued for Cameron Sutton in Hillsborough County in Florida, the Detroit Lions announced that they have released the veteran cornerback.
The Lions signed Sutton to a three-year, $33 million deal in free agency last offseason with $21 million being fully guaranteed, including a $10.9 million signing bonus.
According to Fox Sports’ Greg Auman, Sutton had his $10.5 million 2024 base salary guaranteed in his contract, but due to his off-field incident, that guarantee could be voided.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio followed up, confirming the Lions voided his guarantee before releasing him.
Sutton had $10.5M fully-guaranteed salary for 2024. Per source, the Lions voided the guarantee before cutting him.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 21, 2024
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Lions are designating Sutton a post-June 1 cut, allowing the team to spread the dead money associated with Sutton’s release over two seasons.
But following the arrest warrant, the Lions are cutting ties with the 29-year-old cornerback. Sutton played the first six seasons of his NFL career for the Pittsburgh Steelers before spending 2023 with the Lions.
An arrest warrant was put out for Sutton Wednesday morning saying that he is wanted for aggravated battery-domestic violence. Later Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office put out a corrected tweet updating chargers on Sutton, who is now facing domestic battery by strangulation charges.
The office stated that it has been trying to contact Sutton for two weeks since the alleged March 7 incident but have not been able to locate him.
According to Lions beat reporter Justin Rogers, Hillsborough County police were called at 4:30 a.m. on March 7 about the alleged domestic incident and have made multiple attempts to contact Sutton but to no avail, which is why they made the social media post about the warrant. Sutton is reportedly driving a Jeep Grand Wagonneer, but has not been able to be located.
According to Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud, Hillsborough County deputies found a “battered” woman at Sutton’s home. Sutton then allegedly left the scene and shut his phone off.
Following the news of the arrest warrant, the Lions released a statement saying they became aware of the alleged incident and were monitoring the situation. One day later, they cut ties with Sutton.
During the 2023 season, Sutton recorded 65 total tackles and one interception while adding six passes defensed to help the Lions reach the NFC Championship Game. Sutton was a third-round pick of the Steelers out of Tennessee in the 2017 NFL Draft.
