Player: CB Cameron Sutton
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: Well, we had to discuss the obvious one at some point. The NFL handed down an eight-game suspension for Cameron Sutton. He is not appealing, so that means at most he can play in nine games this year. He will not return until after the Steelers’ October 28 game against the New York Giants. By then, they may have replaced him and could even opt to release him.
Will Cameron Sutton play a down for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024? That’s still not guaranteed to happen. He must first get through an eight-game suspension, and we don’t know what things will look like by then.
The ideal situation for the Steelers would be that they substituted for Sutton so well that they don’t need him. Their options now include Josiah Scott, Beanie Bishop Jr., and Grayland Arnold. Other candidates, like Patrick Peterson or Chandon Sullivan, may also enter the mix.
One year after signing a three-year, $33 million contract, Cameron Sutton’s career is hanging on by a thread. After an underwhelming first season in Detroit, he allegedly violently assaulted his girlfriend. The Lions subsequently released him, and the Steelers eventually signed him for peanuts.
More specifically, they signed him to a one-year Veteran Salary Benefit contract with no signing bonus. The upshot is that the Steelers can release Sutton at any point with zero financial consequences. They will bear nothing against their salary cap for having him on the roster.
The Steelers surely understood that they would be without Sutton for some portion of the 2024 season. I suspect that, at some level, they were prepared for at least the possibility that they could for at least eight games.
Now, however, they have no choice but to prepare for that reality. Depending on how they do so, they may decide to go without Cameron Sutton for all 17 games. If the defense plays well, they may not wish to open up a roster spot for him. Given the cloud over his head, there probably isn’t a huge risk of another team signing him, so he could even land on the practice squad.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
