The Miami Dolphins deserve some credit. Even with plenty of teams having massive amounts of cap space to woo defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, every indication has been that no other team but the Dolphins ever really had a chance.
Suh to the Dolphins has been a strong rumor for many days, as Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson reported. Now we have a specific contract amount, which should tell everyone that this is no smoke screen by Suh's representatives.
Suh will sign Tuesday for about $114 million with $60 million guaranteed, ESPN's Chris Mortensen said. That's in line with what Yahoo Sports' Rand Getlin reported on March 4, that Suh should get about $60 million guaranteed. Nothing can be official until Tuesday, so technically it could change. But at this point that would be a surprise. Teams and players have been allowed to negotiate since Saturday. Rumors of the Dolphins being Suh's destination have been floating about before then, so make of that what you will.
[Check out Shutdown Corner's full 2015 free agent rankings – click here for offensive players, and click here for defensive players and specialists]
if the numbers are correct, it sets a new bar for defensive players. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt got a $100 million deal with $51.8 guaranteed last year. Now Suh, the most coveted defensive player to hit free agency in many years, will beat that by a wide margin.
Suh was considered by nearly everyone to be one of the best defensive free agents to hit the open market since perhaps Reggie White or Deion Sanders in the early- and mid-1990s. But it turns out, he's really not hitting the open market at all. The Dolphins, apparently, made sure of that.
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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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