The NFL’s investigation into Cameron Sutton has concluded, and it has resulted in a suspension. The Steelers cornerback has been issued an eight-game ban for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, as noted by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He will not appeal the suspension, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. 
Sutton was the subject of an arrest warrant which was issued in March on the charge of domestic battery by strangulation. The 29-year-old was a member of the Lions at the time, having played in Detroit for 2023 on a $11MM-per-year deal. One day after news of the warrant broke, the Lions released him.
More than three weeks after the warrant was issued (which was well before it became public knowledge), Sutton surrendered to police. The Lions had advised him to do so, and since then he has seen misdemeanor battery charges resolved by entering a pretrial diversion program. As past disciplinary decisions have shown, however, players do not need to be convicted of crimes to face punishment under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Shortly before the draft, Sutton took part in a free agent visit with the Steelers, the team with which he spent the first six years of his career. No further developments on that front took place for several weeks until, in June, the parties agreed to a one-year deal. Sutton was set to earn the veteran minimum on his Pittsburgh accord, so being suspended without pay for the campaign’s opening eight weeks will lower his earnings considerably.
A third-round pick in 2017, Sutton logged just two starts across his first three seasons in the league. The Tennessee alum has been a mainstay on his teams’ defenses since then, though, logging over 1,000 snaps in 2021 and doing so again during his single Lions campaign last season. That experience will give Pittsburgh a starting-caliber option in the secondary during the second half of the year.
The Steelers have Joey Porter Jr. in place as a perimeter starter, and the same will likely be true of trade acquisition Donte Jackson. Sutton has primarily played on the boundary during his career, but he has experience in the slot and could find himself there upon returning to Pittsburgh’s lineup once his suspension has been served. A depth addition this summer could now be on the team’s radar knowing they will be shorthanded in the secondary, however.
The Steelers’ bye week falls on Week 9, meaning the earliest point at which Sutton could make his debut would be during the team’s Week 10 matchup against the Commanders.
For all their talk of culture, the Steelers really are hypocrites.
Their head coach tried to trip a dude in the middle of a game and Big Ben is a r8per. Who in the world considers this team a culturally virtuous one?
Gotta dig wayyyyyyy back for all of that. Man why not bring up the steroids of the 70s while we are at it.
Sounds like a browns fan.
And I mean you want to bring up r8pe let’s bring up Kobe and the guy running for president
Look up whataboutism in the dictionary. Same coach, so still the same culture.
Well stated and agreed
I’m a lifelong Steelers fan going back to Noll being hired, but jeez, give the culture thing a rest. It’s a joke. It’s all about wins and profits
Be serious. Like any organization, they’ve had some tremendous individuals of high character come through while also having their share of troubles. But it’s not the Vatican City Steelers by any means
They had to know this would happen when they signed Sutton. He’ll appeal, the league will lessen it, but it’s hard to figure they were really counting on him as a huge part of the secondary
Tired old dude… Then why sign him?
There are browns fans?
He sniffs little kids and took showers with his teenage daughter, but I never heard anyone call that r8pe.
You know that the TDS is strong when you bring up Trump on a sports site. Get a life, Sky Screamer.
That’s because they’re not. You know the BDS is strong when you bring up President Biden on a sports site. Get a life, trump fluffer. Oh the irony.
Awww, the little snowflake get triggered? Bumbling Biden is your man! What a joke!
Kobe doesn’t play baseball and the man running for president wasn’t convicted of R8pe or any such sex crimes. You really should get your facts straight sir. Stop listening to MSNBC and read the verdict for yourself. But that may actually be hard for you since you seem to be so biased.
I just want to thank you for demonstrating what abject stupidity looks like in black and white. I’ll refrain from political discourse on a football site but this is truly what it means to be “comfortably numb”
No this is what it means when you took law courses in college. If you want to call someone with a traumatic brain injury stupid you are a piece of human s**t. I may be a little slow these days, but I have never been called stupid because of it. I stated facts according to the laws of the United States of America. Sorry if YOU can’t keep up with the tard.
lol I don’t know what team you cheer for, but there isn’t one that isn’t dirty, dude. Grow up.
That doesn’t mean you don’t try to call out evil when you see it madman. Bad is bad even when everyone is doing it.
Evil?? Greedy maybe. But let’s leave morality out of any conversation about the NFL…
I don’t root for any team that has a “[Team Name] Way” mantra thankfully. I hate those platitudes.
Even the Harlem Globetrotters signed Bill Cosby 😛
There are a lot of Steeler fans who have absolutely hated this move. A lot. Especially older fans like me.
I’m very much aware – yall come off as a smart bunch. Who I’m side-eying is a man by the name of Mr. Rooney.
Hopefully the Lions get some money back from this.
How much was guaranteed?
All of a Sutton
Good. If it had been the whole year I wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it.
No clue why they brought this guy back after what he did (DV might be alleged but he for sure went on the lamb for weeks).
Just admit the error and cut him.
The thing that puzzles me is that Sutton isn’t even a quality these days. He stepped up in spite of his deficiencies from his regular season play in the Lions’ playoff games, but still wasn’t great. I don’t think that Sutton adds more than post-injury Donte Jackson at the end of the day, even if he may not have the post-injury worries.
I’m thinking that the Steelers feel that Sutton was simply a bad scheme fit in Detroit, that they know what he can do in a Steeler defense, and that Tomlin knows and trusts his character enough that he feels assured that, while egregious, what Sutton did was not representative of who he really is.
I’m not saying I agree with any of it, just that this is the sense I’ve gotten about the situation.
That’s probably an accurate depiction of their mindset.
Low character man.
Other opinions aside, opens a massive hole at outside corner and so will be interesting to see if a corresponding move is made. Still a good deal of unproven youth even if the potential exists with a few. I’m not ready for them to bring in James Pierre for 8 weeks either
They could always audition former players from the Pittsburgh area prison teams. Keep that culture intact…
I think that Jackson will end up being the starter there, and was going to anyway. Not sure why Sutton was signed, to be honest. The young players may be unproven, but I don’t see the team as necessarily much worse before this news than after it.
They really like Cory Trice and Beanie Bishop as diamond in the rough types at corner.
Loved Trice going into camp and the injury derailed something there. Hope he can come back strong this year and take that spot. If they’re not ready Ahkello Witherspoon is out and would be a nice depth addition
He should be the ‘most rested’ CB in the AFC North come week 10. Maybe Tomlin has a plan.
I’m surprised nobody is blaming Andy Reid for this…lol.
Sutton will choke.
nice lol
Is this the Steeler way?…..Rooney Rule 2.0?
The Steeler Way was exposed as obvious BS as soon as Ernie Holmes started firing on that police helicopter.
Why do these women and children beaters not get lifetime bans?