Group buys '$UH?' billboards

The Detroit Lions declined to use the franchise tag on star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on Monday morning, and soon after, a group of investors decided to act during what might be Suh's final week with the Lions.

An unnamed group contacted Outfront Media on Monday afternoon, and by Tuesday afternoon, in the Detroit and Grand Rapids metropolitan areas, multiple LED digital billboards saying the same thing -- "$UH?" -- started to pop up.

"A real quick thing started," Bob Brown, a sales representative for Outfront, told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "They wanted to take advantage of the controversy."

Carly Zipp, who works in public relations for Outfront, said in an email that the meaning of the billboard wasn't positive or negative toward Suh or the Lions but "just asks the question, is he worth the big bucks or not?"

Brown would not say who purchased the billboards other than to say it was a group of individuals, not an organization. He said it was the same group of fans who bought "Detroit Lyin'" billboards after the Lions' loss to Dallas in the playoffs earlier this year.

Brown could not say how much the billboards cost or how long they would stay up.

The Lions did not have any comment on the billboards when contacted by ESPN.com.

Detroit is in contract negotiations with Suh and his agent Jimmy Sexton to try to secure the defensive tackle's services for a long-term deal. The team did not pick up the option on Suh. If they had, it would have cost the Lions $26.9 million against the salary cap for 2015 if they were not able to work out a long-term deal by July.

Either way, because of contract restructures, Suh will be on Detroit's cap for $9.7 million in 2015 in addition to any contract he might sign or even if he leaves the Lions.

Suh has been Detroit's top free-agent priority this season, and team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew have expressed confidence for a year-plus that the two sides will come to a long-term agreement. The new league year -- and free agency -- is set to open Tuesday.