Suh Fined Again...

When it comes to NFL defensive players there is a small, specialized collector market. It is more glamorous to collect cards of the guy who passes for 462 yards and 7 TDs against the Baltimore Defense (Peyton Manning) than the guy who had 3 sacks and 5 tackles against the Jacksonville Jaguars (Justin Houston).

 

Very few guys create buzz on the D side of the game that get the collectors clamoring over their cards and when they do get the attention it is usually the “alluring” linebacker position. Guys like Ray Lewis, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, LT, Junior Seau and even the young Patrick Willis or Von Miller all have their collectors but lineman and DBs rarely raise anyone’s eyebrows. Ndamukong Suh may be one of the few defensive players that gets the attention of collectors.

 

When it comes to Suh, I think most of his fans follow him because of his antics, you wonder what he is going to do next. He has stepped on players, kicked Matt Schaub in the groin and treats opposing QBs as his personal stress dolls. His newest action, a low block on Minnesota’s John Sullivan following an interception, earned him a $100,000 fine. When you consider his base season salary is $630,000 (or $39,375 per game but this does not take in to account his $11.5 million signing bonus for 2013) he is playing the next 2 ½ games for free.

 

To put it in to perspective, his fine costs him 80 packs of Panini Flawless.

 

Oddly I think that Suh is one of the few players whose card values increase the more he is fined and with the nearly 1,400 cards available on eBay there are plenty of options for any collector.

Is Ndamukong Suh Hurting His Career With His Choices?

During Thursday’s nationally televised game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, the Lions Ndamukong Suh was ejected in the 3^rd Quarter after pushing the head of Packer’s Guard Dietrich-Smith in to the ground three times then getting up and stepping on his arm. Suh claimed he was only “getting himself on balance” when he accidently set his foot on Dietrich-Smith’s right arm but this seems to be an on-going situation. In only his second season Suh has been fined $42,000 (not counting the impending fine from this game) and even spoke with the NFL Commissioner to clarify the rules and why he was getting fined in October.

Surprisingly he was not fined for his vicious face mask on Falcons Matt Ryan during the game last month or the following push on Falcons Guard Joe Hawley after the game and then again he surprisingly missed being fined last week when he ripped off Bear’s QB Jay Cutler helmet. Suh has even claimed innocence in most situations and it seems to be a concern to some people in the sports world, including ESPN, Sporting News and FOX Sports analyst (and former NFL VP of Officiating) Mike Pereira that he is either a straight up liar or does not realize the consequences for his actions.

As one of the few defensive players who’s cards regularly draws collectors attention you have to wonder if a suspension will cool his prices especially if he continues to play in this manor?

I have to admit that before this game I did not feel one way or the other about Suh even though I have heard that he plays dirty. It is football after all and the hits will come hard and fast but when someone goes out of their way in an attempt to hurt a downed opponent is definitely beyond necessary. If his intent was to injure Dietrich-Smith I hope that a fine and possible suspension will get Suh on the right path because he is clearly one of the best Defensive Tackles in the game today and I would hate to see his career marred by bad decisions.