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When Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh fired his agents last month, there was a lot of speculation that he was going to sign with Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sports. That speculation seems to have turned out to be accurate, because ESPN's Darren Rovell reports that Suh has in fact decided to join the Roc Nation Sports family.
Following up on @AdamSchefter report, Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports will rep Ndamunkong Suh for both contract & marketing
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) February 11, 2014
When Jay-Z's name first popped up as a potential partner for Suh, the thinking was that it would just be for a marketing deal. In this partnership, CAA was expected to handle Suh's actual contract negotiations. Instead, though, it looks like Suh has decided to go all in with Roc Nation Sports. As noted by Justin Rogers, this means that Kimberly Miale will likely be Suh's actual agent. That's unconfirmed for now, but it's interesting for this reason:
As far as I can tell Miale's only NFL client is New York Jets QB Geno Smith.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) February 11, 2014
With the Lions hoping to get Suh a long-term deal this offseason in order to lower his cap hit for 2014, simply hiring an agent is an important first step in this whole process. Negotiations can't get rolling until Suh's got an agent in place, but hopefully now with things moving forward the two sides will be able to start hammering out a new deal.