Lions GM: 'No plans' to trade Suh

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew didn't say much on Monday about what the team plans to do in this week's draft, but he did make something else quite clear: The Lions have no interest in trading defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

"We're not looking to trade him. We have no plans to trade him," Mayhew said. "I haven't had any conversations with anybody about trading him, except in January I did get a call from a team that had interest. Offered me a box of old tube socks, and I said no thank you.

"Other than that, there's been no conversations. There's been no gauging the interest level. There's been none of that that's happened or has been authorized by me, so I don't know where that came from. That's not on the table."

Suh has a $22.4 million salary-cap number and is entering the final year of his rookie contract, factors that surely helped fuel speculation of a trade.

However, Mayhew and team president Tom Lewand said often earlier in the offseason that they expected a deal to be done soon.

Suh fired Relativity Sports in January and didn't hire new representation -- Jimmy Sexton -- until March. He also declined to show up to voluntary workouts that began last month -- workouts that almost every other Lions player attended.

"We're in negotiations," Mayhew said. "I don't think it really benefits to try and gauge where you are. Are you close? Are you far? All that. I've done this for a while now and you can say you're close, but you're not close until everybody signs it. You can say you're not going to get it done until the time passes for you to get it done. We're in ongoing negotiations."

Mayhew said he expects Suh to arrive in the middle of May, as he has done in previous years, and that "it doesn't shock" him that Suh has not yet shown at the Lions' facility.

Suh, 27, has played in 62 games since being drafted of Nebraska with the No. 2 pick out in 2010. He has 185 tackles and 27.5 sacks.