The contract everyone knew would get done, even days before the contact period began (no tampering, of course), is finally done: Ndamukong Suh has joined the Miami Dolphins.
The contract took a day to get done, obviously in part because any nine-figure contract is complicated, but cynically because the NFL is threatening an investigation of deals that were done before they could be official and it wouldn't look good if the Dolphins signed Suh to a monster deal minutes after free agency started. Owner Stephen Ross even said the deal wasn't finalized until Wednesday morning. Hold your laughter. I guess the rumors last week that Suh was a done deal to the Dolphins was just a really lucky guess.
But no matter how it happened, look at how happy everyone is in this photo:
Remember this photo as the years go on. Either it will be looked at fondly, like Reggie White alongside Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf and coach Mike Holmgren as he signed, or as the one time everyone was happy before it all went wrong.
Pressure? There's more than a little bit on him. It has been said often he's the biggest free-agent signing among defensive players since White (I'd say since Deion Sanders, but either way we're still talking 20-plus years ago), and he's the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.
"I’m excited about the pressure. And I don’t necessarily look at it as pressure," Suh said at his introductory press conference, shown on NFL Network. "I look at it as something I’m built for. My parents and my sister always put pressure on me to do well in school, and that’s something I had to succeed in, and that came first before athletics. But it translated into athletics. So for me, it’s exciting.
"I look forward to the challenge. If there’s no challenge, there’s no real excitement and no time to celebrate at the very end of it when you are successful."
Suh said the right things. He said money wasn't the most important factor in his signing (a good way to get everyone to roll their eyes) but the direction of the Dolphins franchise.
"I wouldn’t say money is the most important factor," Suh said. "I think at all levels, players in the NFL want to be rewarded in many different ways. For me, there’s lots of opportunities to be rewarded. Obviously, money is one of them, being able to set up your family and things. But at the same time, being able to be with a strong group of cast members that I’m sitting next to as well as the people in this building, it’s a progressive group. To me, that’s the most exciting piece about it. That’s where you really build a culture, and a culture that wants to succeed."
The main way to judge if the Suh signing is a success will be if the Dolphins can overtake the New England Patriots in the AFC East. That's what the division has been trying to figure out for most of this century.
That concern is for another day, however. For one day the Dolphins and Suh could bask in one of the biggest transactions in many years, with everyone being full of smiles and unlimited optimism. For now at least.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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