The Raiders and Ndamukong Suh have called off their scheduled meeting.
Jeff Smith - 2 hours ago
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The Oakland Raiders have finalized more than 10 signings to this point in NFL free agency, but none would have come close to the waves that landing defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh would have made.
The former Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins star was set to meet with the Raiders on Wednesday, but as NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reports, the meeting has now been canceled.
As Rapoport explains, Suh is currently back home and deciding between the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans.
The interest from Oakland head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Reggie McKenzie was obviously easy to understand. It's hard to ignore the idea of pairing one of the most talented defensive tackles in the NFL with an elite pass rusher like Khalil Mack. Simply put, this would have created one of the scariest duos on the defensive side of the ball in the entire league.
As Austin Gayle of Pro Football Focus pointed out, the Raiders were doing their best to free up extra money and cap space, and he believes that what the team may have put together likely wasn't enough for Suh to consider over the other offers.
Suh, who's currently 31 years old, was originally drafted with the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. Over the span of his eight-year career, he has racked up 419 combined tackles, 63 for loss and 51.5 sacks.
To go along with the impressive numbers, he's also been named First-Team All-Pro three times throughout his career (2010, 2013, 2014), while being named Second-Team All-Pro twice (2012 and 2016). He was also the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.
There certainly hasn't been a lack of interest in him from the moment he was released by the Dolphins. Before his scheduled meeting with the Raiders, he had meetings with all three teams listed above and at various points throughout, it seemed as though he could sign with any.
Leading up to this, Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports reported, both McKenzie and owner Mark Davis had shown quite a bit of interest in Suh. The reasoning makes perfect sense as well, with the duo coveting "a dominant DT to aid Khalil Mack and get the OAK defense back to respectability," as Schultz explains.
Well, adding Suh would have been a massive step in the right direction for the Raiders new-look unit in 2018. Even without the high-profile playmaker, Oakland has still landed the likes of cornerback Rashaan Melvin, linebacker Tahir Whitehead and additional defensive backs Marcus Gilchrist and Shareece Wright.
Overall, it's hard to argue that the arrow isn't pointing in the right direction early on in free agency.