It’s a cycle we’ve gotten all too used to this offseason.
A player gets arrested, his team releases a statement expressing some level of regret and then the player apologizes while saying it won’t happen again. With seven arrests this year, the Lions are as well versed in the cycle as any team. They got a chance to flex their statement writing muscles again on Sunday in the wake of cornerback Aaron Berry’s arrest on three counts of simple assault.
“We are extremely disappointed by the reports involving Aaron Berry,” the Lions said in a statement. “We are currently gathering more information and will have further comment when appropriate.”
After seven arrests, including two apiece from Berry, defensive tackle Nick Fairley and running back Mikel Leshoure, it would seem that now is the appropriate time to have a further comment. It doesn’t have to be specific to Berry’s current predicament, but the Lions need to do something to show that they care about the message sent by player after player getting arrested with the team doing nothing but issuing the same old statements.
Calls have already started for the team to part ways with Berry, who looked set to be one of the team’s starting cornerbacks this season. That’s one possible way for the Lions to respond, although it isn’t the only way. Whatever response they come up with needs to have more teeth than the same statement we’ve seen a dozen times before.