Mike Florio is weighing in on Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cam Sutton receiving an eight-game suspension from the NFL Monday following his offseason arrest on felony domestic battery chargers that were eventually dropped to a misdemeanor. Florio thinks the Steelers deserve whatever criticism they’ve received. And then some.
“I think the Steelers deserve to be scrutinized and criticized for making the decision to give Cam Sutton safe harbor,” Florio said on Tuesday’s Pro Football Talk. “When you look at the affidavits, the allegations are strong.”
Sutton was on the run from police for three weeks after an alleged domestic violence incident with his girlfriend. According to the affidavit, Sutton is accused of picking her up, slamming her into the wall, biting her neck, and choking her until she lost consciousness.
Ultimately, Sutton avoided trial and entered a pretrial diversion program that would effectively wipe his record clean should he complete it. But that didn’t avoid league punishment, Sutton suspended for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The standard suspension for domestic violence allegations is six games but the NFL determined there were aggravating factors to add two more games.
Florio wondered if Sutton would’ve ever been signed had video come out showing the incident, comparing it to Ray Rice’s situation of never playing again after footage of the three-time Pro Bowler beating up a woman in an elevator was released.
Mike Tomlin said the team did its due diligence on Sutton’s situation and cited its long-time relationship prior, drafting and rostering him from 2017-2022, as reasons why the Steelers were comfortable signing him. Florio believes Pittsburgh is fortunate to avoid a more intense PR blowback.
“So far, the Steelers haven’t gotten the kind of scrutiny that maybe they should. And of course, there are plenty of Steelers fans who get mad if you point that out,” he said. “They want to bash the Browns for signing Deshaun Watson. At the end of the day, Sutton was suspended only three games fewer than Watson was suspended.”
Sutton has spoken once since re-joining the Steelers, meeting reporters the day he was officially signed last month. His comments could best be described as tone deaf, referring to his situation as “adversity” and that he would overcome the “narrative” following him.
He’ll be eligible to participate through training camp and the preseason, though it remains to be seen how much the Steelers will use him knowing he can’t help them until the second half of the year. He’ll be allowed to return to the facility after Week 4 and is eligible for full reinstatement after the team’s Week 8 contest against the New York Giants. Given the Steelers’ Week 9 bye week, Sutton can take the field in Week 10 when Pittsburgh travels to Washington to play the Commanders.
