How Steelers' cornerback Cam Sutton's suspension could actually help the Lions in a big way

Back in March then Detroit Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton was released by the Lions after having a warrant out in Florida for domestic battery and then going on the run from law enforcement. Sutton would eventually turn himself into police at the end of the month.

That did not end the Lions attachment to Sutton though. Just a few days before the warrant became public and Sutton was let go, the Lions had guaranteed all $10.5 million of his 2024 salary . Had they not done that, the Lions could have simply released Sutton after the incident and then recouped the money after June 1st.

But since the Lions did guarantee that money, they had to try to void out the deal with the leagues approval. Before the Lions could do that, Sutton was believed to have filed or was planning to file a grievance with the Lions to get his money.

This would leave everything up to the league. They can either go through with the Lions void or they could side with Sutton on the grievance. The latter of the two options just took a big hit on Monday with Sutton's suspension.

Sutton, who is now back with the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be suspended without pay for eight games in 2024. He won't be able to come back until the Steelers' Week 8 game against the New York Giants.

How does this help the Lions? Well, the big thing is that it shows the NFL may not be looking to take the side of Sutton on this one. This is likely a major blow to Sutton's grievance argument.

Nothing is official yet on that. We now know that Sutton won't appeal the suspension , but we don't know if he plans to go ahead with the grievance or if it's already in motion.

If the Lions win out on that, they'll get back $10.5 million on their salary cap this year. That would put them just over $40 million in available cap space this season. Again, judging by the leagues actions on Monday, it would seem that Sutton isn't going to get any help from the NFL and the league will likely find that the Lions were right in their move to release him and to void his contract.

We'll update you as soon as we know what the outcome of all of this is.

Related: 5 Lions' players that could make their very first All-Pro team in 2024