Nate Burleson is fine with helping Titus Young take his job

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There are plenty of stories about veteran players doing everything in their power to hold off a younger player at the same position.

This is not one of those stories. It is the exact opposite, actually. It’s a story about a veteran Lions receiver pledging to do everything in his power to help a younger wideout wind up taking his starting job sooner rather than later.

Nate Burleson told Dan Hanzus of NFL.com that he was helped out by Marcus Robinson when both were with the Vikings and that he now plans to pay that help forward to Titus Young. Burleson supported Young this offseason after the younger man punched safety Louis Delmas and he plans to keep helping him any other way he can.

“I told Titus, I said, ‘Look. There’s no question that you’re brought here to take my position. That’s what you’re brought here to do. And by the time I’m done, you should be ready to take that and you should be on your way to a new contract. And if you’re not in those two positions, I don’t think I did my job well enough.’”

The Lions run plenty of sets with three or more receivers, so there will be playing time for both Burleson and Young this season. Beyond that, the Lions would obviously like to see Young move into the bigger role and, if all works out, stay in it long enough to help his replacement earn a role in the offense.