Restructuring deals repeatedly will inevitably lead to cap hell sooner or later (remember what the 49ers went through?), but leaving Suh's cap hit where it is will severely hinder any attempt to upgrade the roster through free agency this year, and would probably require cutting some starters and replacing them with draft picks or league minimum contracts.
Sharp does spend plenty of time pointing out that it was excellent scouting and successful late round picks that played a big time role in Seattle's success... does he really need to come out and say that Detroit needs to do this in order to get the point across?
Not sure what the final cap # will be for Suh, Stafford, and CJ if they restructure/extend their contracts, but it would certainly be closer to the league average than it currently is (for a year or two, anyways, and then cap hell inevitably will set in and the team will have to be blown up).
The question is, do we push the inevitable down the road a few more years and extend Suh/restructure CJ, which solves the problem today at the expense of making the problem much bigger down the road? Or do we take the hit now in order to have much greater flexibility starting next year, at the expense of improving this roster for a potential run over the next couple years?
The answer is, a lot depends on what you think of the current roster, especially Stafford. We all know that this team, as constructed, will go no further than Stafford can take them. Will he become who we all hope he can be? Aside from whether he reaches his potential or not, you also have to look at the lesser names that occupy key positions... do we have the necessary talent core at OL, DL, WR/TE, DB, RB, and LB to win with minimal additions? If you think yes, then you do the extensions/restructures and go for it. If not, then maybe taking the hit now and letting Suh walk next year could make sense logically.
Two final things to note:
1) Fans are not logical, and letting Suh go next year would be a VERY HARD sell for the Fords/Mayhew. Detroit has been mired in suck-hood for too long, and we fans (with the exception of LKP lol) are not likely to sit patiently while they rebuild... again.
2) Regardless of what happens with Suh, this team will not be successful unless they have better, and consistent, results from the middle and late rounds of the draft. In the salary cap era, teams cannot afford to have competitive starting units, let alone quality depth, comprised of only higher draft picks and FA pickups. They need some of those later picks to make significant contributions at a competitive level in order to win it all. The more money invested in a few star players, the more important those picks become.
