Bell: Lions may regret not locking up Ndamukong Suh for the long haul

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Ndamukong Suh feels like he's been here before.

"The way I look at it, I'm in my last year of college ball," Suh told USA TODAY Sports. "I don't know where I'm going to be next year. It's unfortunate, but it's a part of growing up. In college ball, you have five great years, or four great years, and you go from there."

Uh-oh. Pinch yourself, Detroit Lions fans.

For all that has gone right this season – the Lions (7-2) will carry a four-game winning streak into a showdown at the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, and the defense built around Suh is ranked No. 1 in the NFL -- there's the reality this might be the stretch run for Suh wearing the Honolulu Blue.

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Enjoy him while you can.

The indomitable defensive tackle, who joined the Lions in 2010 after being drafted No. 2 overall from Nebraska, can become a free agent after the season. And if you consider the deals recently signed by a couple other notable D-linemen in Houston's J.J. Watt (6 years, $100 million) and Tampa Bay's Gerald McCoy (6 years, $95 million), it illustrates the type of payday Suh can command on the open market.

It's too bad for the Lions they didn't lock up Suh, who carries the largest salary cap figure in the NFL this season at $22.4 million, with a long-term extension before now.

Playing perhaps the best football of his career, Suh has matured into a better leader and certainly changed the narrative after being cast for years as one of the NFL's dirtiest players.

By the numbers: Suh has zero fines this season and just three penalties (two for being offsides). He was fined eight times in previous years and suspended for two games in 2011 for bashing an opponent's head into the turf on Thanksgiving.

He's still dominant, but just not going overboard.

Yet the team, with a tight cap squeeze, cut off talks before the season – and may ultimately regret it.

Lions president Tom Lewand reiterated what he said in July about wanting to focus on the season.

"Nothing that we said in July hasn't come to fruition," Lewand told USA TODAY Sports. "It's unfolding like we expected it to. He's had a very good year. We're 7-2. We don't know what would have been happening if we had been trying to talk contract through August, September, and if it didn't work out, would that had become a distraction? Would we be in the same spot? I don't know."

When asked if he agreed with the notion of cutting off the talks in July, Suh said, "Yeah. Gotta focus on football. The season is the most important thing. That's how you've always got to look at it, whether you're on a long-term contract or a short-term contract."

I'm not so convinced of that. Not in a league where your next play could always be your last. Watt and McCoy, both of whom received more than $50 million guaranteed, signed since the regular season began. And Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer got a new deal, too, a three-year, $49.5 million extension announced last Friday. On Sunday, he blew out his left knee again.

How does such inherent risk strike Suh?

"You've got to speak to my agent about those things," Suh said.

Suh's new agent, Jimmy Sexton, is not commenting on the talks.

Reading the tea leaves on Suh has never been easy. He's a self-described introvert, but has a higher national profile than any Lion – offensive stars Johnson and Stafford, included – with his sister, Ngum, driving a savvy marketing plan.

And just when the world believes he will bolt Detroit, he might be just the one to blow that theory out of the water.

Maybe it's premature to think he's as good as gone from Detroit.

Besides dollars, an apparent X-factor is head coach Jim Caldwell.

Suh has connected with the new Lions coach, and new coordinator Teryl Austin.

Caldwell said that in his first weeks on the job, there was no player he saw more at the team's facility than Suh. They struck a bond. So when Suh continued his pattern of not showing up for voluntary minicamps, opting to work out in Oregon, Caldwell was good with it.

He said he never prejudged Suh, based on reputation.

"The way some of us have grown up, we don't try to judge a book by its cover," Caldwell said. "Often times, that's happened to me in my life, for whatever reason, color of skin, those kinds of things. You kind of get put in a box and categorized.

"I got a chance to visit with him, talk to him, and it didn't take long to realize that this guy, it's what you're looking for."

Of course, whether they will be able to keep him is the risk the Lions must live it.

Lewand expects to make a big push in the window after the season and before the start of free agency.

"We've done a lot of deals with players whose contracts were expiring," said Lewand. "If the player want to be here and we want to keep him, we've had great success in doing that. I don't feel any differently this time around."

Yet this time, with timing and market conditions that may be easier said than done.