Jared Allen and Ndamukong Suh are two of the most feared sack artists in the NFL, but perhaps not for good reason. Which defender is more overrated–Suh or Allen?

Matthew Stafford has been named the 2011 Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Stafford bounced back from a pair of shoulder separations that limited him to just three games in 2010 to pass for 5,038 yards with 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions as the Lions went 10-6 and returned to the post-season for the first time since 1999.

Stafford received 21 of the 50 votes, six more votes than Cleveland Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith, Denver Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil, New England Patriots defensive end Andre Carter and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning also received votes.

Schwartz said, “The next time I talk about my contract will be never.”

“That’s just something that I’m not going to really comment on, because it has nothing to do with where we are, the success of the team, it has nothing to do with what we do on a daily basis. For us to be successful, we need to sort of stick with what we’ve done. We can’t expect carryover to be from last year to this year, just like we talked a lot last year about winning the last four (games) and, ‘Hey, look, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that carries over.’ It’s all about the process and what we go through, and none of that stuff’s going to change.”

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz defended defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh against some criticism thrown at him earlier this week by NFL.com’s Warren Sapp. “There is an adage in coaching: If you listen to the fans you will be sitting amongst them,” he said. “I will take it one step further: If you are listening to the media and analysts too much, you will be working amongst them.”

Sapp, a seven-time Pro Bowler, said Tuesday that Suh did nothing to improve himself from his first year to the second. He said Suh is primarily a power rusher and his power was diminished after offseason rotator cuff surgery. Sapp encouraged Suh to work on his technique and try to become a more complete pass rusher. “We see Ndamukong every single day, every single practice, every single play,” Schwartz said. “That’s a lot different perspective than watching it on TV. But everybody has an opinion.” Schwartz said he disagreed with the notion that Suh “struggled,” and he pointed out that Suh has 14 sacks in his first two seasons, two more than Sapp recorded in his first two seasons.

“I definitely don’t want to be franchised,” Avril said today according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I mean, I’ve been in Detroit for four years, and I wouldn’t mind being there for another couple more years or whatnot. The franchise tag kind of makes it a yearly thing, and you want security. You want to know you’re going to be there for a couple years so your family can get comfortable.”

Avril will be an unrestricted free agent next month and one of the top pass rushers available if he and the Lions don’t agree on a long-term contract beforehand.

Without a deal, the Lions would be forced to use the franchise tag, at just over $10 million, to effectively keep Avril off the market.

Former NFL defensive tackle and now NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp doesn’t hold back when it comes to analyzing players. He believes Ndamukong Suh needs to take a serious look in the mirror this offseason and evaluate himself.

The thing that affected him was he played such a power game, grabbing people and slinging them out of the way,” Sapp said according to Anwar Richardson of Mlive.com. “He had rotator cuff surgery. I had one on each shoulder. I kind of know what that’s like. You have to put yourself in a position where there was no offseason, no rehabbing and all the things he needed to do to be able to get that strength back. Now without that power, snatching and slinging people out of the way, he’s never been a hip-flipper or a true pass rusher in a sense.

“He was just overpowering and throwing people out of the way. On this level, everybody is that strong. That’s what you saw, him with his shoulder and people understanding he was just going to go through them. That’s the way he rushes. He goes through you. All I got to do is get myself a nice little base and be ready to go.”

“You have to self-evaluate in this game,” Sapp said. “That’s the biggest thing I did from my rookie year when I had Sam Wyche and he was running a three-ring circus. I started the first seven games, I’m benched for the next eight, then I play the last one, then he’s gone. The whole coaching staff is gone. Now how do I get better going to the next coaching staff? You got to self-evaluate.

“You got to look at yourself and say where can I get better. I knew I needed to get better at my strength and my conditioning and then my pass rush. I went into the offseason and worked on nothing but my pass rush, speed and run and just go at. You got to grind at the job. This is your profession. There’s nothing else. Subway will work around your schedule, I guarantee you.”

“Until he’s going to be honest with himself, he’s going to have a long career, whatever he wants to call what he’s doing now,” Sapp said. “How’s he still standing there talking about he was stepping away from this man? In what universe does he live in? I don’t get it.”

According to the report, Culbreath appeared before a country magistrate and paid a $412 fine.

“We are aware of the very disappointing reports involving Johnny Culbreath. This matter has been referred to the National Football League. Further comments will be made when appropriate,” the Lions said in a statement to the Free Press.

The 23-year-old Culbreath played his college ball at South Carolina State and was a seventh-round pick (209th overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-5, 322-pound Culbreath spent his rookie season on injured reserve.

It sounds like contract talks between “Megatron” Calvin Johnson and the Lions will start soon.

Johnson was a guest Monday on Jim Rome’s TV show on ESPN, and said he thinks that talks will start soon.

“Yeah, definitely, we’re going to see here — soon,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have some talks soon, and hopefully get things rolling.”

Johnson is set to earn $14 million this season and he has the third-largest contract on his team behind quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The 26-year-old is coming off a monster season with 96 receptions for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Coming off the team’s first playoff appearance since 1999, the Lions have 20 players who will be unrestricted free agents this offseason.

While that list includes injury replacements (punter Ben Graham) and veteran depth guys for 2011 (Erik Coleman, Chris Harris), the list also includes key cogs on defense (Cliff Avril, Stephen Tulloch, Eric Wright) and a decision on left tackle Jeff Backus, who will turn 35 early in the 2012 regular season and is coming off a torn biceps.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew discussed the challenging offseason on Thursday.

“In the past, we were just looking at acquiring good players,” Mayhew said according to Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. “Now we have good players. Which ones can we keep? Which ones are we not going to be able to keep and can we replace those players with the same talent level — at a better price or at the same price? There are a lot of different challenges.”

The Lions have 46 players under contract for next season and already have a cap number that is in the middle of a projected 2012 salary cap range of $120.375 million and $125 million per team. The Lions did not have a great deal of cap space remaining in 2011, so their adjusted 2012 cap figure won’t be much higher than the league number and will only increase with restricted free agent and exclusive rights free agent tenders, along with base salary increases based on playing time and performance incentives. The Lions will also need space to franchise Avril if a long-term deal is not reached, which could cost around $11 million in 2012.

Detroit will need to clear some cap space for 2012 and the quickest way to do that is with extensions and restructures of their most expensive players.

Mayhew confirmed that Pro Bowl wide receiver Calvin Johnson will have a cap number north of $20 million (I have it at closer to $23 million) in 2012, the final year of his rookie contract. The $20 million or so in cash Johnson is due this season matches what Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald received in Year One of his seven-year, $113 million contract extension — which included $45 million in guaranteed money — in August.

The Lions could rework quarterback Matthew Stafford’s contract again. Stafford lowered his $9 million base salary to the league minimum ($525,000) last August, taking the $8.475 million difference in a signing bonus that was spread out over four season. Stafford is scheduled to make $10.5 million in 2012 and has a cap number of $16.1 million, two figures that will increase by $1 million with Stafford hitting certain performance incentives in his rookie contract.

From 2010-13, Stafford has $1 million in base salary escalation available if he makes certain Pro Bowl/All-NFL teams, or is named league MVP, or if ranks in the Top 5 in either passing yards, passing touchdowns or passing rating. In his first full season in the NFL, Stafford ranked in the Top 5 in all three of those categories, which will increase his base salary to $11.5 million and cap number to just over $17 million.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is entering his third season and can now have his contract reworked. Suh is due $9.25 million in base salary with a cap number of nearly $12.72 million. A restructure similar to what Stafford did last season could clear $6.5 million of cap space for 2012 and reduce the amount of base salary Suh would forfeit if he were suspended again by the NFL.

The Lions are also working on a contract extension for head coach Jim Schwartz, who is 18-30 in his three seasons with the Lions, who went 10-6 in 2011 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

“We plan to start to work on that (Schwartz’s extension) in the next couple weeks or so,” said Mayhew.