Lions To Meet With Ndamukong Suh’s Agent At The Combine

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports that the Lions plan to meet with free agent DT Ndamukong Suh‘s agent, Jimmy Sexton, at he Combine this week.

Birkett mentions that the two sides are likely to ramp up contract negotiations during their meeting, but there will be other interested teams in Indianapolis.

NFL teams are not allowed to speak to any free agent or their agent until three days before the start of free agency. However, the Combine is the start of the tampering period, so can expect that Sexton will have a decent idea of who’s interested and what Suh’s market will look like in the coming weeks.

Detroit can, of course, do the same thing and see what options they have available either in free agency or in the draft.

The Lions have said publicly that retaining Suh is their top priority, but it won’t be easy given that it will run them $26.87 million to apply the franchise tag.

There are several cap-rich teams that are likely to throw big money at Suh, so it will be interesting to see how he balances a huge contract with the opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl title.

Suh, 27, is arguably the best available player in this year’s free agent class.

In 2014, he recorded 51 tackles, 8.5 sacks and three pass defenses over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 3 defensive tackle in the league.

We have Suh ranked as the No. 2 player in our Top 50 – 2015 Free Agents List.