Thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness, the Lions secondary hasn’t been an area of strength the last two seasons.
In 2011, the Lions were able to overcome shortcomings on the back end well enough to make the playoffs. Last year, though, the play of the defensive backs was one of the chief reasons why Detroit won just four games. They signed safety Glover Quin as part of the effort to turn things around, with defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham citing Quin’s professionalism as one of his best traits, and Quin believes the unit is coming together thanks to a mix of youth and experience.
“I think we’re shaping up pretty well,” Quin said, via Carlos Monarrez the Detroit Free Press. “We’ve got a good group of veterans. Me and Chris Houston and Ron Bartell and Louis Delmas and we just signed Chris Hope. So we’ve got a great group of veteran guys. We’ve got a great group of young guys like Bill Bentley and Chris Greenwood and Jonte Green and we just drafted Darius Slay.”
There’s also safeties Don Carey and Amari Spievey in the mix, part of a much deeper group than the Lions had last season. The names don’t blow you away, but the quantity of them is significant because the Lions have scrambled for any healthy body they can find over the last couple of seasons when trouble strikes during the season.