What Can Ndamukong Suh Do for the Miami Dolphins Defense?

Ndamukong Suh is set to join the Miami Dolphins.

According to Chris Mortenson of ESPN, Suh will sign a six-year contract worth $114 million with $60 million guaranteed on Tuesday. The former Detroit Lions defensive tackle was the most highly sought-after free agent on the open market this year.

Signings of this kind are often stigmatized in today's NFL. That stigma is intensified when defensive tackles are involved. That is because of Albert Haynesworth, a player who signed a huge contract with Washington back in 2009 before quickly watching his career fall apart.

The old adage that "you build through the draft" has some resonance to it, but the idea that you can't make big moves in free agency is simply foolish. You only need to look back to last year's Super Bowl contenders to find out the importance of additions teams acquire in free agency.

Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell, Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Tony McDaniel, Kevin Williams, Chris Matthews, LeGarrette Blount, Rob Ninkovich, Patrick Chung, Kyle Arrington and Brandon Browner all arrived at the Super Bowl after being signed as free agents.

Of course, none of those players was signed to a big-money contract like Suh, but New England Patriots star cornerback Darrelle Revis was.

The then-28-year-old had been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the beginning of free agency because he didn't fit in Lovie Smith's scheme. That freed him to sign with the Patriots on a two-year, $32 million contract.

Even though Revis' contract was designed to only really be a one-year deal, his cost for 2014 still amounted to $12 million. That $12 million is significantly lower than the $19 million Suh's contract averages out to, with $60 million coming over the first three years.

Yet the difference between the two salaries isn't as vast as it seems. The NFL's salary cap is expanding at an incredible rate. It has jumped by $10 million over each of the past two seasons and only looks to continue to climb over the coming years.

Financially, Suh is earning a huge amount of money, but it's not a contract that is going to completely handicap the franchise for the long term. It's also not a contract that is going to a player who lacks motivation.

Suh could follow in the footsteps of Albert Haynesworth, but there's no reason to believe he is any more likely to than any other free agent. Suh has been on a huge contract since he entered the NFL and has always played with a great motor on the field.

His performances have earned him this huge windfall with the Dolphins. 

At 28 years of age, Suh is also still in his prime. He may not be a star during his fifth and sixth year of his contract, but he should still be a viable starting option considering his physical peak. For head coach Joe Philbin, the latter years of this deal are largely irrelevant. He needs to win the AFC East this season to keep his job—or at least make the playoffs.

Suh's expected addition to the Dolphins roster didn't necessarily come out of nowhere, but it hadn't been expected leading up to free agency. Part of that was the Dolphins' cap space, but more significantly, they had no real need for an interior defensive lineman—even with Jared Odrick hitting free agency.

Instead of taking the cautious route away from Suh, the Dolphins undertook a strategy that isn't used enough in the NFL. They attempted to alleviate the pressure on their weaknesses by strengthening a strength.

The Dolphins had an average defense in 2014. While the defense as a whole was average, Miami's defensive line was one of the best in the NFL.

Left defensive end Cameron Wake has been an All-Pro-caliber player for a long time now. Wake is 33 years of age, but he was still as explosive as ever when healthy in 2014. Almost a decade separates Wake and fellow defensive end Olivier Vernon (24) in age, but their talent levels are much closer at this point.

Vernon isn't as explosive as Wake, but he has enough pass-rushing versatility to consistently get the better of NFL left tackles. Over the past two seasons, he has compiled 18 sacks.

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Aligning Suh between these two defensive ends, with Earl Mitchell acting as a nose tackle and possibly Randy Starks coming in on passing downs, will make this defensive line overwhelming. To keep the primary players fresh, the Dolphins will also expect quality contributions from Derrick Shelby, Terrence Fede and Dion Jordan as they develop.

Suh should expect to elevate every single one of his teammates, while his teammates will also aid him individually by drawing more of the defense's attention away from him.

If you can draw attention away from Suh, he is going to take over games on his own. In Detroit he played on a very talented defensive line which allowed him to show off his exceptional skill set on a regular basis. That should be the case in Miami also.

The greatest trait Suh boasts is versatility. He is versatile enough to excel in any situation against any offense on any type of play.

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This play comes from the Lions and Dolphins matchup from the 2014 season. Suh is lined up as the left defensive tackle in the Lions' nickel defense. Importantly, the Dolphins have Mike Pouncey and Nate Garner lined up across from him.

Because of the play call, Suh is going to be double-teamed on this play.

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As the Dolphins so often did last year, they ran the ball from the shotgun while reading the free defensive end to the same side of the field. This defensive end was next to Suh, so the extra blocker was in position to engage him at the snap.

Suh doesn't ever react to Garner, the extra blocker; instead he focuses on Pouncey as he moves with the flow of the play.

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As the play develops, Suh is aggressively fighting through Pouncey while showing no ill-effects from Garner's attempts to push him backward. Suh's body angle here is perfect, and the strength he shows is very impressive because of which player he is working against.

Even at this point of the play, Suh has already done more than would be expected for most defensive linemen because he has held his positioning against a double-team.

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Not settling for simply holding his position, Suh keeps working through Pouncey's block attempt to push his way toward the ball-carrier. Despite the extra attention, he is able to meet the running back in the hole to tackle him as soon as he crosses the line of scrimmage.

This is the kind of play against the run that very few defensive linemen in the NFL can make once. Suh is capable of making it more regularly than that.

Most of the players in the NFL who excel against double-teams when playing the run are hefty nose tackles who struggle to move in space. Suh offers that same kind of ability against double-teams with the ability to penetrate the backfield and move laterally quickly.

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On this play against the Green Bay Packers, he is again lined up at the left defensive end position to start the play. The Packers have a fullback offset to his side of the field with Aaron Rodgers lined up in the pistol. This offers the Packers options for how to attack the defense.

They decide to run away from Suh.

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Right guard T.J. Lang, a player who is widely considered one of the better guards in the NFL, is responsible for Suh. Lang is beaten at the snap. Suh is able to explode out of his stance while using his hands to knock Lang off balance.

Suh used Lang's forward momentum against him to fluidly slide past his outside shoulder.

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From there he quickly diagnoses where the football is before accelerating toward it. Even though Eddie Lacy isn't one of the fastest backs in the NFL, he should have enough speed to get away from Suh before the line of scrimmage when running toward left tackle.

Instead, Suh is able to track him down at the line of scrimmage before pulling him down from behind for no gain.

Suh is an outstanding athlete, and he shows off the technical ability to use that athleticism to its best possible effect against the run. He can hold the better offensive guards in the NFL away from his body while he searches for the football and move them off the line of scrimmage if necessary.

His run defense is phenomenal, but run defense alone doesn't make you worthy of a huge contract. Obviously Suh offers a great presence as an interior pass-rusher.

As a rookie in 2010, Suh had an incredible 10 sacks from a defensive tackle position. He only had four the following season but has accumulated 22 over 48 regular-season games since then. For an interior defensive lineman, that is an excellent sack rate. More importantly though, Suh can get consistent pressure to disrupt the opponent's quarterback.

In a division with the Super Bowl champions and Tom Brady, that interior pressure can go a long way.

Suh relies on his intensity, strong hands and balance to penetrate the pocket. He had a number of "second effort" sacks last year when he continued through his initial movement to chase the quarterback down behind the line of scrimmage.

With Suh pressing the interior, potentially with Starks and Wake/Vernon coming off of the edges, the Dolphins should expect to have one of the most productive pass-rushing defensive lines in the NFL next season.

He should be the final piece that allows the Dolphins to consistently get quick pressure on the quarterback without blitzing.

A defense that can create pressure with just a four-man rush is a defense that can be creative with its coverages while not stressing the secondary. Creative coverages typically ask too much of a cornerback or safety in his assignment or matchup. That is not the case if you can squeeze the space from the field with extra numbers.

The need for high-quality cornerback and safety play is lessened, while your linebackers won't be put in one-on-one assignments against tight ends or slot receivers in space.

Everyone will still need to be accountable against the run, but the penetration and disruption created by the defensive line will also aid others in that aspect of the game.

It would be foolish to suggest that Suh isn't a big risk from the Dolphins. This is a huge investment in a defensive player. He is earning money that many starting quarterbacks would be delighted to earn...and not just the bad ones.

Suh is a great, great talent who has proved to be a great player during his career to this point. Expectations for what he can bring to the Dolphins should be very high.

The Dolphins have enough pieces to compete for the AFC East in 2015 if they can continue to add complementary pieces to the roster.

Ryan Tannehill has shown over the past two seasons that he is developing into one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. Brent Grimes is still in his prime as one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL. Wake has a season or two left at least. Branden Albert is a high-quality left tackle if healthy. Vernon's career only appears to be going in one direction.

Many legitimate reasons exist for the Dolphins to be excited entering next season. They still have important moves to make, but adding Suh to the roster puts them in a position to contend.