The Detroit Lions need cap space if they have any chance of retaining Ndamukong Suh. The defensive end is hoping to become the highest paid defensive player in the league and right now the Lions simply do not have the space to make that work. With the offseason approaching, trades or releases were going to have to be made for the Lions and Reggie Bush was the first to learn that the hard way.
The Detroit Lions announced Wednesday that veteran running back Bush would be released. The running back was scheduled to earn $3.25 million in 2015 and another $3.75 million in 2016 in the final two years of his contract signed back in 2013. By releasing Bush, the Lions save around $1.7 million in salary cap space which can be used towards the contract of Suh or Nick Fairley.
The release of Bush made sense considering his decrease in production. The running back battled injuries during most of 2014, getting limited to just 11 games while putting up 297 yards rushing and another 253 yards receiving. The Lions general manager Martin Mayhew hinted that a release of Bush could be in the works. Detroit's priority is retaining Suh and they simply could not do that with contracts like bush's on the pay roll.
"It's not about Reggie Bush. It's about the process of evaluating where you are as a football team," Mayhew said, via ESPN.com. "We have a bunch of meetings after the season. The coaching staff meets. The scouting department meets together and we evaluate everybody's performance. Part of that, from my standpoint as GM and in terms of setting up our team, is how much of a contribution each guy made to the football team that year. In Reggie's situation, obviously last year he was injured so you have to look at the contribution versus how much you're paying a player. It's not just Reggie. It's every player on the team."
If the Lions cannot agree to a contract for Suh, there will be a bidding war over the defensive end. The team is trying to make as many salary cuts as possible in order to get Suh signed to a contract in the next two weeks. The release of Bush allows the team to not have to consider a trade of Calvin Johnson, something that might have happened considering his high cap hit. Other players like Brandon Pettigrew and Ryan Broyles could be next to get released in order to make room for the defensive free agents.
