Ndamukong Suh announced his retirement on Saturday. Some of you will know that name. Some of you will not. Everyone who follows the NFL and appreciates its history should have a deep appreciation of who Suh was. What he represented. All of him. The good, the bad, the really ugly. So here it is.
Suh was in many ways a representative of the NFL before it became the league we see now. He was an old-school football dude in a 21st-century era. If there was a player today who embodied the clotheslining, cheap-shotting, step-on-a-player’s leg while they’re down era of the 1970s, it was Suh. In fact, Suh actually did step on a player’s leg while he was down. He did it to Aaron Rodgers.
Suh was dirty. That’s not an opinion. That’s who Suh was. Don’t take my word for it. His peers said the same. The Sporting News in 2012 asked 103 players who was the dirtiest in the NFL and Suh was at the top of the list. He earned that position.
‘There’s not many guys in this league like that guy,’ former Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount said in 2017. ‘He’s a dirty player. He’s always been a dirty player. There’s no room in the game for that. At some point in time, guys have to defend themselves when he’s doing the things that he does.’
Suh was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for various late hits, dirty plays and on-field illegalities. In fact, by 2023, he had racked up a staggering $420,669 in fines. Part of that unreal total was a $100,000 fine for a low block against Minnesota’s John Sullivan in the 2013 season opener.
This is who Suh was. But there is another part of him.
I was a massive critic of Suh, but I always appreciated how he was unapologetic about who he was, and I believe Suh saw football for what it really is: at times, and perhaps most of the time, a brutal sport played by tough people. That’s it. That’s all. Not the game that the league and networks sell. The beautified game. The flashy game. That’s not who Suh was.
It’s hard to put into words just how offenses feared Suh. Quarterbacks were terrified of him for legitimate reasons. But also, teams feared him because he was physically devastating, not just a cheap shot guy.
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Suh was the second overall pick in the 2010 draft and the league’s defensive rookie of the year. He dominated in Detroit and then signed a deal with Miami that, at the time, made him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. After the Dolphins, he played for the Rams and Buccaneers before ending his career in Philadelphia.
The point is, besides the dirtiness, he was really good. Like, historically good. Suh played in Super Bowls for each of his last three teams, something that almost never happens in NFL history. According to Pro Football Talk, the short list of players who have played in Super Bowls for three different franchises includes Rod Woodson (Steelers, Ravens, Raiders), Bill Romanowski (49ers, Broncos, Raiders), Preston Pearson (Colts, Steelers, Cowboys), Harry Swayne (Chargers, Broncos, Ravens) and Joe Jurevicius (Giants, Buccaneers, Seahawks).
To me, he is a Hall of Famer.
And no, the cheap shot stuff shouldn’t keep him out. It should be noted, and debated, but he was, without question, one of the great defensive players of his era. That’s the bottom line in making that type of decision.
I have to tell you something else about Suh. Just one last thing.
You can see some of what these people who spoke to me meant when reading Suh’s thoughtful and heartfelt retirement post, which starts by noting he was retiring on the same day, a year later, that his father died.
“It’s the day I said goodbye to my father, the man who raised me, shaped me, challenged me, and believed in me before I believed in myself,” Suh wrote. “He wasn’t just a dad. He was my idol, my coach, and my anchor. He taught me what it meant to be disciplined, focused, and relentless in everything I do. Every snap I took in football carried his fingerprint. Every time I lined up across from someone, I could hear his voice pushing me, reminding me that I wasn’t just representing myself. I was representing him, my family, my name. Before he passed, he gave me one final piece of advice, ‘It’s time to let football go. You’ve done everything you set out to do. Now it’s time for the next chapter.’”
That next chapter should include a trip to Canton.