The Detroit Lions have elected not to use the franchise tag on Ndamukong Suh.

Suh was one of the more intriguing options for usage of the tag, because doing so would have meant spending close to $26.9 million to tie him up for the 2015 season with no guarantee of a long-term deal.

Contract restructures on Suh's contract left him with a cap number of $22.4 million, which escalated his 2015 tag number to such a high amount.

Martin Mayhew and team president Tom Lewand have been confident for over a year about being able to sign Suh to a long-term deal and with the tag not being used, that gives the Lions a one-week window to try and get that done before Suh heads to the open market.