Contract for Bucs' David could impact Lions signing Levy

Their best defensive player is closing in on eight months away from unrestricted free agency, and if the Lions want to prevent him from getting there, they'll probably have to offer him a contract that will make him the highest-paid player at his position.

If the Lions wait to act, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might help define the market for them by giving their own, younger star at the same position a life-altering deal.

Sound familiar?

A year after the Lions failed to sign Ndamukong Suh to a summer extension only to lose him to free agency a few months later, after the Bucs reupped with Gerald McCoy, the NFC foes are heading down parallel paths with the best 4-3 outside linebackers in the game, DeAndre Levy and Lavonte David.

The situation isn't identical to what happened a year ago, when Suh and McCoy used their massive leverage in different ways to land two of the richest contracts in NFL history, Suh with the Miami Dolphins (after spurning the Lions' off-season advances) and McCoy (early last fall) with the Bucs.

But Levy and David are screaming toward new contracts, and for the Lions it makes sense to get a deal done as soon as possible.

"I'd try to get that thing done before David's deal hits the market," said Joel Corry, a former agent who now covers the business side of football for CBS Sports. "Once you got David in the marketplace — and I'm assuming that's going to be a strong deal — that will be a focal point of discussions, or that's going to be an important data point, at least from the agent's mind and the player's mind."

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With Suh gone, Levy is the biggest terror left on a defense that ranked second in the NFL last year, even if some of his teammates have more accomplished résumés (Haloti Ngata) or more tantalizing upside (Darius Slay, Ziggy Ansah).

Levy led the Lions with career highs of 151 tackles and 21/ 2 sacks last year, and in 2013 he tied for second in the NFL with six interceptions.

He's a complete linebacker, though some of his talents are masked (overlooked, even) because of the scheme he plays in.

In the NFL, 4-3 outside linebackers are near the bottom of the pay scale, ahead of specialists, 3-4 defensive tackles and not much else.

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway set the salary bar for the position with the five-year, $40.6-million extension he signed in 2011, but after Greenway made $27 million over the first three seasons of the deal, the Vikings forced him to take a pay cut each of the past two years.

According to OverTheCap.com, only two 4-3 outside linebackers, K.J. Wright of the Seattle Seahawks and Vontaze Burfict of the Cincinnati Bengals, make more than $6 million per year, both on extensions signed last season.

Levy has been one of the NFL's biggest bargains since inking a three-year, $9.7-million extension in 2013. David is entering the last year of the rookie deal he got as the 58th pick of the 2012 draft.

Both players are in the prime of their careers — Levy is 28, David 25 — and should cash in big on their next contracts, but Corry said Levy's best chance to maximize his earnings is to let David set the market now.

"If you want to get paid a lot of money as an outside linebacker, you need to be a pass rusher, which he isn't," Corry said. "So his best bet for maximum compensation is to not be in a rush for a deal, to let Lavonte David hopefully set that market for the non-pass-rushing outside linebacker, and then use that deal to make his case for a better deal."

The Lions, who opened preliminary talks with Levy's agent on a new deal this spring, got burned by waiting on Suh last year, when they tabled negotiations before the start of training camp, then watched him leave in free agency.

They can't afford to make the same mistake with Levy, both for the message it would send to players and the blow it would be to their defense. If they can get Levy to the negotiating table this summer, the time is now to get a deal done.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.