AP

The Lions expect to sign defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a contract extension soon.

That’s the word from Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew, who said at the Scouting Combine that he thinks a new deal with Suh will get done right around the start of free agency, on March 11.

As a No. 2 overall pick from the days before the new rookie wage scale, Suh has an enormous cap number of $22.4 million this season. So the Lions would like to sign him to a long-term extension that provides some cap relief for 2014. Complicating matters is that Suh doesn’t officially have an agent right now, although he has reportedly agreed to a business deal with Jay Z and his Roc Nation agency.

The 27-year-old Suh is coming off a strong season in which he was voted a first-team All-Pro, and the Lions view him — along with Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford — as one of the key building blocks for the franchise. And like Johnson and Stafford, Suh is an expensive building block.