OT: Lions release Aaron Berry
Lost in the shuffle of the PSU announcement was the Lions unenviable position of what to do with Aaron Berry. Well, according to the Detroit Lions, Aaron Berry was released today.
Pretty solid statement for the organization that had to do SOMETHING about the off-the-field shenanigans that have plagued this franchise.
Good for them. The idiot deserved to be released.
Now about that CB depth....
Personal conduct aside, this a huge hit for the Lions' secondary. Berry was far better than most will give him credit for here - he was Detroit's best CB on a per-play basis, and looked to possess some Pro Bowl potential with a full season of starting under his belt.
One of those mid-round picks really needs to pan out. And soon.
He was really bad against New Orleans, dude. Like ... REALLY bad, even relative to the Saints' lethal passing game. Wasn't so hot against Green Bay the previous week, either. Not sure what you see in him.
for cutting this clown. 2 arrests in 1 month??...he deserved to be cut. Besides, he got TORCHED last year on the field, and he was even worse this year OFF the field.
You don't say!
A little brevity is important here. profootballfocus, which examines and grades players on a per-play basis, had Berry ranked as one of the few CBs in the league with a positive coverage rating. Regardless of what you may think, the evidence shows he is - at the very least - NOT a bad cornerback. The Lions are in desperate need of guys in the secondary who don't suck. As it stands, they've got two average guys(Houston, Delmas) and a whole lot of To Be Determined's.
However, when he tweeted to the effect of us fans going back to our pathetic lives... I think that was it right there.
Yes, we need decent corners, but there has to be some accountability.
on a side note: how dumb are you to drink and drive as it is (not saying I've never done it, just saying I was stupid to do it).
It was Matt Flynn that tore him up in Week 17, not Aaron Rodgers.
Football Outsiders had Berry with a 52% success rate and 7.1 yards per pass, both about league average for a corner. Chris Houston and Alphonso Smith were both slightly better, but in the same neighborhood.
While the Lions could definitely use another average corner, Berry was only average by these metrics, not one of the best in the league.
He was playing with 2 pretty severe injuries at the end of last year. 1 of which was to his shoulder I think. I know he was playign with pretty much 1 arm which is why he dropped the ball thrown right to him.
You took the minor point I made and drove it off a cliff, but alright?
they may want to go after aaron berry. i hear he's available.
This doesn't change anything.
This is just one more way to make an inroad.
Define "a long time ago." Prior to Culbreath's arrest earlier this year, the Lions hadn't had any players arrested since 2008. Before this off season (which admittedly has been out of control), the Lions had one of the lowest rates of arrests in the NFL. And keep in mind that all of the Lions' arrests this off season have come from three players. Not good by any stretch, but not some insane chunk of the team either.
I know that if I was on the verge of making $1,000,000+ a season and only had to prove myself on the field after getting handed a starting position I, too, would drink and drive and waive a gun around a group of people in celebration.
I mean, how else are you supposed to celebrate such a great oppornunity?
Good riddance, dumbass.
Wasn't he the one who tweeted about the miserable lives of Detroit fans or something after he got torched by the saints wideouts in the playoff game?
Fuck that guy.
Yes, he was. I'm not even a Lions fan (hate the NFL) and I thought that was a dick move coming from a guy getting paid a lotta green to play a sport versus a fan base who went through 0-16 (without any monetary compensation).
This has nothing to do with PSU and should be deleted...
I like Schwartz, but I really thought when he was brought to Detroit, part of his appeal was that he is tough and and doesn't put up with stuff like this.
His own issues with self-discipline (the Harbaugh incident, taunting Dez Bryant) hurt his credibility with telling players to behave, at least as it relates to on-field conduct. He needs to get a grip himself.
I don't recall the taunting of Dez Bryant, but I fully support it. Dez takes douchebaggery to another level.
what a softy... that said, watch him go for 14 tds this year. I think its a shame that some recievers are so talented that they can make it without knowing their routeas
Schwartz on the other hand needs to get control of himself before he loses his team. I believe wholeheartedly that football teams mirror their coaches control.
Against Dallas in Week 4, Bryant claimed he caught a ball the refs ruled incomplete or out of bounds. He convinced Garrett to challenge, they did and lost, and Schwartz pointed and yelled at Bryant before giving him a demonstrative "incomplete" hand signal. He was also heard - very clearly - screaming "learn the fucking rules!" to a ref while stepping onto the field the previous week in Minnesota. After both those wins, he gave big, exaggerated fist pumps that only make him look a like a huge hypcrite for going nuts on Harbaugh for his overly exuberant handshake.
If a coach wants to be cocky, I'd rather it be in the form of pointed/snide comments after games. Schwartz's hyperactive brat routine is going to get old very quick.
No further comment.
Glad they got rid of him, even though it is a tough blow to the team. But yikes, but who hires a lawyer named Corky Goldstein?
"I would just hope that everybody just holds their judgment on this matter," said Corky Goldstein, Berry's lawyer. "There's a lot more to this situation. ... I know Aaron is very upset over this whole situation. Let's give the opportunity for all the facts to come out."
He probably just saw the Goldstein, and assumed he was good based on that.
All kidding aside - when I moved to LA that's how I picked my doctor. I found the guy closest to my house with a Jewish last name. That way I knew he was smart and spoke English.
that no team picks him up. Hence sending a message to these idiotic players, that this behavior won't fly.
Good move. Berry was a promising talent, but anyone who waves a gun at someone else for any reason other than self defense is a thug. I mean a real-miserable-life, gang-banging asshole thug, not just the kind that hits a quarterback a split second too late.
If he were more of a solid player, I would be a little happier about this. But to be honest, wasn't he gone after this year anyways? And he wasn't exactly that big of a piece on the defense. He was potentially a starter at one of the CB slots, but still the guy was unreliable on the field and off (obviously). So I am not impressed at all by them releasing him, anything short of releasing him would have been unacceptable. The real question is, why is all this happening? Is it a lack of control from Jim Schwartz, or is it this bad boy moniker? Do they preach being "Us vs The World" and acting like bad asses on the field and some just take it too seriously off the field? Or is it just the fact that everyone in the organization is basically young for their positions, Schwartz, Mayhew, Suh, etc.
The point of my post is, how is this still going on? I see no improvement.
I use to love the whole, they are bad boys, and play a little dirty. Throw some fear into the opponents, but now its just annoying. I want to see some play off success, and it won't happen until the "extra curricular" shit stops.
I have been watching the Lions since 1959, the first year of the "Curse of Bobby Layne," which was really the ineptitude of William Clay Ford for fifty years. I have watched them go 2-14 and 0-16.
Even with all of that crappy football, I have never been more embarrassed to be a Lions fan than I have this offseason. For this news, though, all I can say is, "Thank you, Detroit Lions." Hopefully, a couple more trades or releases are coming. It's time for the Lions to show some class, and this is a great beginning.
It's too bad Berry had to go. He showed some promise as a player in a secondary that needs talent. But he forced the organization to take a stand, and I think they did the right thing. It was time to make a statement.
The good news is that three DBs were drafted and one was signed; we've now lost two (Wright in FA and Berry to stupidity). The numbers are there...but can they play? The Lions' success this season will have a lot to do with how their secondary performs.
This is the first good news about a Michigan sports team that Ive heard all day. That guy is a punk and will be out of the league shortly.