National Football League

Lions, Suh agree to five-year deal

Published Aug. 3, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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The Detroit Lions and their top draft pick have reached a deal.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the second overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, has agreed to a five-year contract worth a base of $60 million with a maximum of $68 million.

The contract includes $40 million in guaranteed money for the former Nebraska standout.

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The deal comes days after the draft's No. 1 pick, Sam Bradford, inked a six-year deal worth a reported maximum of $86 million — $50 million in guaranteed money.

Suh didn't report to training camp with his teammates Friday night and missed four days of practice.

Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said Suh has to have a successful conditioning test before he can join his teammates on the field.

"If he passes it, he'll be out here," Schwartz said.

Team president Tom Lewand said Wednesday morning the team expected him to arrive in time to participate in the afternoon practice.

"I give a lot of credit to Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker," said Lewand, referring to Suh's agents. "Obviously, and most importantly to Ndamukong himself because it takes a player's involvement to really get a deal done. While we would've liked to do it earlier - I'm sure he would've liked to do it earlier - we're just glad it's done and over with and he's got a lot of training camp ahead of him."

Schwartz said earlier in the week he was disappointed Suh missed some opportunities in training camp and later veteran center Dominic Raiola told reporters Suh should tell his agents to make a deal. Soon thereafter, both sides agreed to terms.

"That's all I wanted," Raiola said. "It was nothing personal toward him or anybody else. We drafted him high to help this team and I was anxious to get him in here."

Suh's holdout was half as long as Calvin Johnson's in 2007.

Lewand said he's not concerned with how Suh's deal compares to the contract Matthew Stafford signed last year after Detroit drafted the quarterback No. 1 overall. Stafford's six-year contract has $41.7 million in guarantees with a maximum value of $78 million.

"The focus needs to be what they do for a living, not how much they make doing it," Lewand said.

Detroit needs Suh to do a lot, Schwartz was asked if he expected Suh to make an immediate impact on the defensive line.

"Yeah," Schwartz said. "Did you see the contract? We expect big things from him."

The 6-foot-4 Suh, whose weight hovers around 300 pounds, was the first defensive player to win The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year award since its inception in 1998 and was a Heisman Trophy finalist. His breakout game was a 4 1/2-sack performance against Texas in the Big 12 title game. He finished with 12 sacks.

Suh was the first defensive tackle to be drafted among the top two picks since Oakland took Darrell Russell in 1997.

"Ndamukong is an incredibly intelligent individual and he's also very mature," Lewand said. "I'm very impressed with him as an individual and obviously organizationally, we're impressed with him as a football player as well.

"We're excited to get him in here."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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