The Detroit Lions acted quickly after police in Florida announced that Cameron Sutton was wanted on a domestic violence warrant, cutting ties with the cornerback on March 21.
Now, as police continue to search for Sutton on a charge that he strangled a woman, a troubling report has resurfaced from his days playing college football at the University of Tennessee. Sutton at the time suffered concussion symptoms and revealed that he regularly blacked out while playing games, reports that have sparked renewed interest among fans after the allegations surfaced against Sutton.
Cameron Sutton Revealed in College: ‘I Just Black Out’
While he was playing football for Tennessee in college, Sutton was forced to briefly leave a November 2014 game against Missouri while showing symptoms of a concussion. The cornerback later revealed that he regularly suffered blackouts while playing, raising concerns of a more serious condition.
“From time to time, it just happens throughout the course of the day,” Sutton told 247Sports in 2014, via AL.com. “I might black out, but I just keep walking and nothing ever happens. It’s the first time it’s ever happened in a game. But, you know, I can’t let that stop me from going back out there and finishing the rest of the game.”
Sutton stressed that he suffered from the condition regularly.
“It doesn’t happen every day. For the two seconds it does happen, I just black out, come back, keep going about my business,” he said.
Some Lions fans reshared the story of Sutton’s in-game blackouts, questioning whether he may have suffered more concussion damage.
Lions Part Ways With Cameron Sutton
On March 20 the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Florida asked for help in finding Sutton, who is wanted on a warrant and charged with domestic battery by strangulation, a third-degree felony that could be punished by up to five years in prison.
“He’s been ducking us,” Phil Martello, a communications officer for the sheriff’s department, told MLive. “Our deputies have exhausted all leads. He’s got vehicles and a home nearby and he hasn’t been there. He’s turned off his phone.”
The Lions announced on Thursday they had released Sutton with no further explanation. Sutton was one of the team’s major acquisitions last offseason. He started all 17 games for the Lions during the 2023-24 season, making a career-high 65 tackles with 1 interception.
“The Lions signed Sutton to a $33 million, three-year contract a little more than a year ago, targeting him as a key player to acquire last offseason,” the report noted. “He helped the franchise win a division title for the first time in three decades along with two playoff games in one postseason for the first time since 1957.”
Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports wrote that the Lions made a strong statement by releasing Sutton and have earned some praise for the decisive move.
“In a league where teams are currently rostering players that have been accused of sexual assault and domestic battery, the Lions are showing that they are not a team that will stand by that,” Payton wrote.
“If you do something like Sutton allegedly did, you don’t deserve to play for the Lions. Really you don’t deserve to play in the NFL at all, but again, some teams will look past that.”
