Rod Wood: Detroit Lions spoke to Cam Sutton, advised him 'to turn himself in'

ORLANDO — The Detroit Lions still have a zero tolerance policy in effect for domestic violence, and team president Rod Wood said Monday that was one of the reasons the organization acted so swiftly in releasing cornerback Cam Sutton on Thursday.

"Yeah, it still is in place," Wood said at the NFL's annual meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando. "Obviously, there’s a legal matter here that will determine exactly what happened, but I would say that was a factor as well as the fact that he was, I guess, (now) on the run from the warrant. So all that factored in, and it was a difficult decision but it was the right decision and we’re just moving on."

Florida authorities said last week they were seeking Sutton's arrest on one count of domestic battery by strangulation for an incident that occurred March 7 in the city of Lutz, a suburb of Tampa.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department posted on social media last week it was seeking assistance locating Sutton, and shared Sutton's picture and the license plate number of the car they believe he's driving.

The Lions learned of the incident through social media, and released Sutton the next day with a June 1 designation to spread the cap hit from his contract over two years.

Wood said someone in the Lions organization spoke to Sutton after news of the incident broke, though he did not specify who.

In a subsequent interview with WJBK-TV Fox 2, Wood said Sutton was in the Lions' Allen Park training facility, "unexpectedly" working out with the team's strength staff, when the Lions learned of the incident. Wood said Sutton left the building after that conversation and the Lions have not spoken to him since.

"We were learning it the same moment you guys were learning about the warrant," Wood told reporters in Florida. "Actually I was on a Zoom call with the league on another matter when it popped up on my phone. As soon as that call wrapped up, we kind of quickly convened and talked about it. We were able to reach Cam and talk about it, and suggested that he get counsel and do the right thing to turn himself in. And then after that, we met the rest of the day and then the following morning to decide to release him."

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Sutton was due a $10.5 million base salary this fall that became guaranteed earlier this month. The Lions have filed to void the guarantees in his contract, which Sutton and his agent can contest.

"I want to make sure everybody knows that we didn’t release him because of anything related to the cap or money that we may owe him, it was the right thing to do for the organization," Wood said. "But we did release him with a post-June 1 designation which will allow us to deal with whatever the cap implications are over two seasons vs. one, and we’re going to let the process between us and him and the union play out to determine exactly what happens, but money was not on my mind when we made the decision."

One of the Lions’ top free-agent additions last spring, Sutton had a disappointing season. He made 65 tackles and had one interception while starting all 17 regular season games but struggled late in the season and in the playoffs against opposing No. 1 receivers.

The Lions traded for Carlton Davis III, signed Amik Robertson in free agency and re-signed Emmanuel Moseley to bolster their secondary this offseason. Sutton was expected to play as the team's No. 2 cornerback opposite Davis this fall, with Robertson and Emmanuel Moseley serving as the team's top backups.

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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who coached Sutton in 2017-22, said he reached out to his former player after news of Sutton's legal troubles broke.

Asked if he spoke with Sutton, Tomlin said, "None of your business."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions spoke to Cam Sutton, advised him 'to turn himself in'