http://www.freep.com/article/20100730/SPORTS01/100730042/1049/Lions-Best-agree-to-five-year-deal- The Lions signed running back and first-round draft pick Jahvid Best to a five-year contract reportedly worth $9.8 million today Financial terms were not disclosed, but Pro Football Talk reported the value of the contract for Best, the 30th overall pick in the draft. The Lions’ final unsigned draft pick remains defensive tackle and No. 2 overall pick Ndamukong Suh. Best signed his deal late in the day. He had been in the Detroit area for several days , waiting for good news. “I was real anxious,” Best said. “It was hard for me to sleep last night. I kept calling my agent, just making sure they were trying to get it done and making sure everything was going to come through.” Best wanted to make sure he would not miss any time in training camp. The players reported Friday and will have their first practice this afternoon. “It was really important to me,” he said. “Just being here on time and being with the rest of the team, just doing everything the way it’s supposed to be done was really important to me.” Lions coach Jim Schwartz had said earlier today that the team was closer to reaching an agreement with Best than Suh.That’s because players drafted near Best, the No. 30 overall pick, had reached agreements on contracts recently. The situation is a little different with Suh, the No. 2 overall pick. Only three of the first 18 draft picks have agreed to deals. The latest is offensive tackle Trent Williams, who agreed to a six-year, $60-million deal this morning. That could speed up the contract process at the top of the draft as the Lions get closer to holding their first practice of training camp at 3:15 p.m. Saturday. “Suh’s a little bit different,” Schwartz said. “I think Trent Williams fell in at four. Like I said a little bit before, when one domino falls, all of a sudden you start getting a lot more and I think the biggest domino in this draft is obviously Sam Bradford at (No.) 1. “And then once that domino falls, then all of a sudden the other ones will fall pretty quickly in place behind because you’ll establish a little bit of a structure. That’s the business of agents. That’s the business of front-office people. “Those two guys will be ready to go and they’ll be on the field as soon as we can get them there.” Wish it was Suh and not the Bust...
