Cameron Sutton, a cornerback, was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers for the veteran minimum. This makes Sutton, like other seasoned players like Russell Wilson, Van Jefferson, and Quez Watkins, a low-risk, high-reward free agent.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, meanwhile, remained unimpressed with the signing. Just 2.5 months after Sutton’s legal run-in, Florio took a jab at the Steelers for signing him.“I don’t get what the Steelers are doing here. Other than saying, ‘We had this guy for six years, we got him cheap. He’s a starting corner, and we got him cheap. We’ll just deal with this crap.’ It’s a lot of crap,” Florio said on June 6. “It’s a bad look for the Steelers that they gave this guy a second chance.
“Talent will gain you that second opportunity, as we always say. This man would never be back in the league if he was a scrub.
On March 20, the Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Sutton on charges of domestic abuse. The Detroit News’ Justin Rogers said that day that the police had “made multiple attempts” to get in touch with Sutton but had been unsuccessful.
A day later, Sutton was released by the Detroit Lions. Before turning himself in to the police, he spent ten more days on the loose.
Sutton was placed in a pretrial diversion program after being charged with criminal violence.
On June 5, he signed a one-year contract with the Steelers. Pittsburgh was home to Sutton for the first six seasons of his career.
Apart from the Steelers, Florio also took aim at Sutton for his initial remarks to the press after rejoining the team that had drafted him.
According to SB Nation’s Behind the Steel Curtain’s Jarrett Bailey, Sutton told reporters on June 5 that “it’s an opinion-based world.” “Everyone moves based not on knowledge but on a sense of being there or having a voice. That’s negotiable, whatever that means. It is not my responsibility to win over others.
“It is my responsibility to be the best version of myself and to figure out how to share it with the public and others in my immediate vicinity. That is entirely under my control. A narrative never concerns me.
Sutton went on to give further details about his message to the fans on his return to the league after the domestic abuse incident. Florio found Sutton’s remarks to be quite offensive.
However, Florio might have been more offended by the Steelers removing such remarks from their YouTube video of Sutton’s initial 2024 OTA interview.
Due to time constraints, the Steelers (as well as other NFL teams) sometimes cut player interviews conducted outside of press conferences. However, in this instance, Sutton’s response to the final question—during which he conveyed this message—seemed to be the only one that was absent from the interview.
Since they most certainly don’t know me better than anyone else, I’m never concerned about what other people think of me. Do you understand what I mean? And once more, it comes down to your principles, your foundation, your unique identity as a person, and what you stand for, Sutton stated, citing Bailey. I’m keeping my head up. Again, hardships are experienced by all. Everybody experiences life events that have the potential to change in both directions.
It all depends on where you stand on that and what you decide to do next. As previously mentioned, I’m prepared to keep heading in the right way. We will simply keep going from there as everything else falls into place.
He’s practically painting himself in the role of a victim. “We all encounter adversity.” Adversity is thrown at us, according to Florio. “Some adversity is caused by our actions.”
In response to Florio, Chris Simms said that the Steelers might be “playing the long game” with Sutton. As a result of his domestic abuse incident, Sutton can miss six games this season. However, Sutton will be back for the second part of the season after his comeback.
Provided that Sutton’s suspension by the NFL does not exceed six games. Florio mentioned that as a potential.According to the police and probable cause affidavits, Sutton picked up his long-term girlfriend and mother of his three children, slammed her against a wall, bit her on the neck, leaving a quarter-sized abrasion that bled, grabbed her by the face and neck, and choked her until she momentarily lost consciousness, according to Florio. The altercation carried over into the living room of the home, when Sutton used his fist to strike the woman twice, causing a knot to form on her forehead while holding her down by her hair.
Striking someone repeatedly, choking someone, or anything else that may have occurred while kids were around. There are three personal conduct policy aggravating variables that push that beyond six.
It would be prudent for the Steelers to presume that Sutton will serve a minimum of six-game suspension. However, it’s unclear when the league will decide in the end.
If the NFL looks into this on its own, Sutton’s punishment might not happen right away. Sutton might not be suspended until the 2025 campaign.
However, the veteran cornerback will probably miss some games in the future due to his infraction of the NFL’s personal conduct policy. It appears that Sutton would miss more than six competitions if Florio had the last say in the matter.
