One day after it was learned an arrest warrant is out for Cameron Sutton, his Lions tenure has come to end. The veteran corner has been released, per a team announcement. ESPN’s Field Yates notes this will come with a post-June 1 designation, creating $1.5MM in cap space beginning June 2.
A report from Wednesday detailed how a warrant for Sutton’s arrest has been in place for nearly two weeks. Police currently cannot locate the 29-year-old, who is facing a charge of domestic battery by strangulation. In advance of potential legal and NFL punishments, his Lions contract has now been terminated.
The former third-rounder is wanted in connection with an incident which took place in Lutz, Florida. Sutton is alleged to have been involved in a domestic incident with a woman, with evidence of wounds found on the victim’s body. He fled the scene at the time of the incident, and Yates’ colleague Eric Woodward reports Sutton has still yet to surrender himself to police.
The Lions signed Sutton to a three-year, $33MM contract last offseason. That deal called for $10.5MM in base salary in 2024, $9MM of which was guaranteed. NFL suspensions void guaranteed compensation, however, and while it is too early in this case to know if it will be relevant or not, convictions are not necessary for league bans to be imposed. Detroit could also attempt to recoup the outstanding $8.72MM of Sutton’s $10.9MM signing bonus which has not already been paid out on the cap.
The Lions made Sutton a central part of their efforts to add in the secondary in 2023, and the former Steeler was a full-time starter in his debut campaign with Detroit. The team once again prioritized CB moves with respect to free agency this offseason, and that resulted in the trade acquisition of Carlton Davis from the Buccaneers. Amik Robertson was also added on a two-year deal, and those arrivals will be joined by returnee Emmanuel Moseley in 2024.
With Sutton no longer in the picture, cornerback will be a position of focus for the Lions ahead of next month’s draft. For Sutton himself, meanwhile, today’s news puts his NFL future in jeopardy.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Fleeing and running from police/warrant while a professional athlete is like “what not to do 101”. Had he surrendered, made bail and then let attorneys do their thing, he still has a NFL career….we’ve seen it 100 times over. But man, he’s effed himself.
the other party woulda already recanted by now and the cops woulda dropped it in 2 weeks. total bananas move
If he had turned himself in as he should have I’m not sure he’s released today. Maybe eventually but his lack of interest in getting this resolved is another issue for him
Well, from a football perspective, Sutton was playing pretty badly. The only reason that he was starting was because of how low the Lions were on secondary help as is. Sutton actually played a little better in a few playoff games, but he was definitely closer to being replaced than he was to starting.
Im always fascinated by people who refuse to just turn themselves in…like they can just ignore it.
Was he just planning on showing up to OTAs like normal?
“Hey guys! Great to be back! Why is everyone staring?”
The law will get you eventually. You may evade in the short term.
And this was embarrassing for sure – but let’s not get it twisted, he wasn’t facing hard time.
Yeah he was never going to serve any real time. Its not the first time we have had athletes cross the line. He either plans to kill himself, has already killed himself or he fled to Mexico.
If he is just hiding out on his friends property hoping this goes away he is just a fool.
He will get a lawyer and turn himself in. Lots of people do what he’s done. A lot of white collar workers. His football career is over, mainly because he’s 29 and just not worth the trouble
No lawyer is advising him to be on the run for 2 weeks. I can’t remember a time this ever happened with an active athlete in a major sport.
Also violent crime warrants are definitely treated differently than white collar warrants.
Where did I say a lawyer is advising him to be on the run? Some people have reading comprehension problems. He most likely will turn himself in. He will hire a lawyer and arrange to turn himself in. It happens all the time, and again you have a reading comprehension problem. I never said anything about happening all the time with professional athletes. The last big one was the parents of the kid who shot up a school in Michigan. They ran and hid before they turned themselves in. As for your violent crime comment, I’m not sure this falls under that title. Domestic violence cases usually don’t. Violent crimes are more serious offenses
He would have been booked, posted bond, and released within hours.
He would likely still have a job too.
I’m with Devious… dude has already Hillary’d himself
Welcome to the Chiefs!
I was thinking Raiders…
Dallas? Jerry’s never been afraid of a player w/ criminal charges.
You’re like a broken record with that crap … but hey, you’re consistent.
Damn, I know it’s justified but the Lions were already light at CB.
It’s not that bad with Davis and Robertson and Moseley. Gilmore and a rookie rounds out that room nicely
They likely should’ve drafted a corner in the first round anyway, given their roster and what’s likely to be on the board.
What was your happy scenario of him continuing on with the team?
Welcome to real world put your application in football in the pass now
A hint for police, when searching for this guy no need to look anywhere near a WR or TE.
Wasn’t he getting burnt a lot in the playoffs anyways. Kupp and Evans are top guys and tough regardless but they killed him. Seemed to be a guy opposing teams targeted.
Thing is, I actually thought that Sutton played better in the playoffs. He was getting tossed around all year, but he made a handful of good plays in the postseason after getting picked on a bit. He tackled better in my memory. Thing is, he already wasn’t playing that well, so the step up didn’t bring him into quality starter range, unfortunately, in my mind.
He may even have been justified in man-handling her if she did something gross to him or attacked him first. There is the “fighting words” concept in law that if you say something (about their mother or child for instance) that would enrage the average person, then a physical attack short of grievous personal injury could go uncharged. It seems she has not recanted, although I’m sure he’s tried to contact her, and he won’t turn himself in. The Lions now have a female owner and she is not having it so he gone.
This has ZERO TO DO WITH HAVING A FEMALE OWNER
It’s called having a conscious and sense of humanity
He’s a pro football player. There is nothing short of being in mortal danger/fear for your life that warrants a professional athlete strangling a woman. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. He backpedals every defensive snap, it’s not hard to WALK AWAY.
The Ford daughter now is the Lions owner……wake the F up.
You appear to have spent a lot of free time and mental energy examining the various ways one might get to hit a woman legally.
Not to mention the interesting conclusions about who might care and why.
Try seeing past the end of your nose, slappy….I can riff like that for hours without breaking a sweat…it’s called wisdom…..ever heard of it?
LOL.
Incels with clown shoes handing out “wisdom” effortlessly.
Thank you for you service.
You’re applying the “fighting words” concept a bit too liberally. The term does not refer to words that merely enrage the average person, but instead to words that, simply by their mere utterance, would cause any reasonable person to fight. The entire definition, per the U.S. Supreme Court, is this: “words which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.”
It may sound like splitting hairs, but in a court of law, there is a noticeable difference. You have to offer that the words used were so profane, so insulting, and so recklessly offensive, that anybody would have had no choice but to fight about it. A lot of people try to use this concept to contest assault or similar charges, but the standard is pretty high. Just being angry about something someone says isn’t enough-it needs to be so bad that even a room full of people would agree that it was too oppressively awful to ignore.
Even then, strangulation is hard to defend as a natural action during a defensive fight. Sure, it may be possible, but not likely.
You stopped making sense in admitting you are splitting hairs.
Or you stopped paying attention. Fighting words is a legal term with a legal definition. Since you brought it into this discussion, you can learn it, or just be wrong. The choice is your’s.
Okay Karen….you can have the last stupid word.
Im with you on the whole “if she puts hands on him first and he he puts hands on her afterwards and they both got hands on each other then both should be in trouble or neither should be, not just him”
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”
At best “fighting words” are classified as misdemeanors in Florida. At no point does “he said mean things” become justifiable to assault someone and ignore assault that took place. Judges laugh those arguments out of court rooms daily. In extreme cases saying the n word or some derogatory term can lead to hate crime charges, but again if you assault someone cause of it you too are guilty of a crime.
Colavito, congratulations, your post is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on this site. Where I’m from, you don’t lay your hands on a woman, EVER. I don’t care what the heck she’s said or done.
Your additional comment about a female owner is the cherry on top of your colossal stupidity.
Everything about this is looney tunes crazy. What in God’s green earth was he thinking? His whole career just ended in front of his eyes.
He snapped….like I said above she may have attacked him or done something so gross he lost his marbles and attacked. NFL players are violent men by definition….civilians need to be careful around them and fighters, Vets, and various other professions that involve cold-hearted physical reaction….don’t like it, who cares? we are all capable of it, most of you don’t know how to fight no matter how tough you are behind the keyboard. And by the same token, see red, and go berserk.
It sure seems like you are trying to justify something in your past. If so, and I don’t expect you to come clean here, I am hopeful that you can make some sort of amends to your wife, daughters, or girlfriend and learn from it while seeking some level of help. My concern based upon your own words is you will just keep finding excuses to make yourself feel better. I would expect nothing less than a ranting rebuttal to my response, but trying to point out the skill at which a person can fight or be tough while you yourself are behind a keyboard is moronic at best.
Piece of dog crap he is
Like I said in the other post, all joking and harsh judgments aside, I seriously hope he doesn’t take his own life somewhere.
It is Florida, Lutz Florida…..
Hope he didn’t decide to hide in the wet lands…..
hey, richard. this is your dad. how bout them chiefs? how bout them royals?
Innocent until proven guilty
Innocent – – turn yourself in
Sutton should have called Von Miller, as he has plenty of experience in making these kinds of allegations go away.
Should have been arrested for his performance in the playoffs
Playing “bump n run” D on your gf
Not sure why he ran, nothing ever happens to these guys and they continue to make millions. He must not have been paying attention to the culture of ignoring domestic abuse/battery that the NFL has established.