Ndamukong Suh Rips Lions, Says He Should've Been 'Paid More Than Matthew Stafford'

Former NFL defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said Tuesday that he believed the Detroit Lions should have paid him more than teammate Matthew Stafford to retain him during his 2015 free agency.

"Detroit, in my opinion, when I first came out, really gave me the short end of the stick," Suh said on Facebook (h/t Michael David Smith of PFT). "I should have been paid more than Stafford, because I was the next first-round pick coming out of the draft. I felt like I was going to be a cornerstone for them, but they didn't value me enough, to say, 'Hey, you're not going to get paid more than our quarterback.' I said fine, I will prove you wrong, that I deserve to be one of the cornerstones ... just like Stafford, just like Calvin [Johnson], but the pay never matched the weight I carried. I wasn't just a defensive tackle. I was the guy offenses game-planned for. I was the one of the guys setting the tone in the locker room and on the field. And while quarterbacks get the big checks, I was the one putting my body on the line every play, chasing down QBs. They built the offense around him, they built the identity of the defense around the D-line and me! You don't talk about the Lions of that era without mentioning Johnson or Stafford, myself and our D-line!"

While Stafford and Johnson got lucrative second contracts with the Lions, the team let Suh hit free agency, and he ultimately signed a six-year, $114 million deal with the Miami Dolphins.

At that point, Suh was already a 2010 Defensive Rookie of the Year, four-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro selection, emerging as one of the most impactful interior defenders in the sport. While he never quite replicated that level in Miami or any of the many other stops that followed, there's no doubt that Suh was a menace during his time in Detroit.

Whether he deserved to make more money than the team's star quarterback, Stafford, is another conversation entirely. The modern market pays quarterbacks far more than any other position. Fair or not, that remains the reality, much as it was in 2015.