Lions defensive end Cliff Avril knows that his team leads the league in offseason arrests, but he doesn’t think it’s fair to label the Lions as troublemakers because of that.
“You can’t label us by a few young guys getting in trouble,” Avril said on ESPN’s NFL 32. “You can’t put that on the other 53 guys on the roster. That makes no sense. Obviously they are part of the team, but I don’t think it’s correct to put that on the other 53 guys who are on the roster.”
Lions cornerback Aaron Berry was the latest Lion to get arrested, with a DUI over the weekend. Lions offensive lineman Johnny Culbreath got the arrests started this year with a marijuana possession charge, running back Mikel Leshoure has been arrested twice for marijuana possession and defensive tackle Nick Fairley has been arrested for marijuana possession once and for drunk driving once. Avril said he tries to talk to his teammates about staying out of trouble.
“Obviously, the guys who had two offenses, it’s kind of hard to talk to those guys, but you’ve got to be supportive of the guys and try to get them on the right track,” Avril said.
Avril is currently unsigned as the Lions’ franchise player, but he said he’s still in regular contact with his teammates and optimistic that he’ll get a deal done before July 16, the last day for franchise players to sign long-term contracts. Getting a deal done with Avril would be a bright spot in a bad offseason in Detroit.