Jahvid Best, Ryan Broyles, Mikel Leshoure all take part in Lions OTAs
Posted by Josh Alper on May 21, 2012, 12:17 PM EDT

The Lions took the field for their first day of organized team activities on Monday and they did it with three rehabbing offensive players on the field.

According to Tim Twentyman of the team’s website, running backs Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure and wide receiver Ryan Broyles all took part in the workout. Best hasn’t been cleared for physical contact after losing most of last season to a concussion, but he’s been taking part in the team’s offseason program all year and got on the field Monday. Leshoure is rehabbing a torn Achilles that wiped out his rookie season and Broyles, a second-round pick, is coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL.

None of the three players did more than individual and position drills, but that’s still a good first step for three players that Detroit hopes can be on the field for the first week of the regular season. While it will be impossible to judge where the players are in terms of that goal until they are asked to do a good bit more on the field, it’s certainly better than the alternative.

Based on what we’ve heard from the Lions to this point, Broyles seems the least likely to answer the bell for the first game. He’s just five months removed from surgery at this point and may need a little bit of time on the PUP list in order to get himself back into optimal shape.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... ions-otas/

Lions ban Titus Young from OTAs for sucker-punching Louis Delmas

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 21, 2012, 1:11 PM EDT

Getty Images
The Detroit Lions developed a reputation last year as a team that had too many players who let their tempers get the best of them. Some things never change.

Lions receiver Titus Young was not allowed to participate in organized team activities today because he sucker punched Lions safety Louis Delmas last week, sources told Anwar Richardson of MLive.com.

According to the report, Delmas and Young had a confrontation during a voluntary workout, and when Delmas wasn’t looking, Young punched him. As a result, the team told Young not to come to OTAs today. Delmas was on the field and participating today.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz, who gave Young an earful when he picked up a 15-yard penalty for hitting Saints defensive back Malcolm Jenkins in the face during Detroit’s December meltdown at the Superdome, declined to comment when asked about Young’s latest incident.

“This is the voluntary part of our offseason program,” Schwartz said. “There is no need to comment.”

In a normal workplace, if you punched a co-worker you’d be liable to get arrested, but an NFL team facility is not a normal workplace, and so Young, who was taken in the second round of last year’s draft, will apparently not face any criminal charges. That means he will not give the Lions their fifth arrest this year from their five-man 2011 draft class. Lions running back Mikel Leshoure has been arrested twice for marijuana possession this year, while defensive tackle Nick Fairley and Johnny Culbreath were each arrested once for marijuana possession.

It’s not clear how long Young will be kept out of OTAs or whether Young will face any further discipline from the Lions.

Detroit Lions continue bizarre NFL offseason in 2012
Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 9:20 AM
Updated: Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 9:22 AM
By Anwar S. Richardson

ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions are arguably having the most bizarre offseason of any NFL team.

Detroit was questioned about its lack of discipline during the regular season last year. Those questions have carried over into the offseason with one bad headline after another.

Instead of talking about the re-signings of Calvin Johnson and Stephen Tulloch, coaches and players are forced to talk about the multiple arrests of their athletes. Instead of discussions about a playoff run in 2012, most are focusing on possible NFL suspensions to start the season. On a day when Lions president Tom Lewand talked about an important youth concussion bill, he was overshadowed by Titus Young's alleged assault of a teammate.

Here is a recap of five bizarre events from this offseason.

1. Johnny Culbreath's arrest - He kicked off Detroit's tumultuous offseason when he was arrested in late January for marijuana possession. Culbreath was staying at the Country Inn and Suites in South Carolina, where a hotel clerk called the police to report that a guest was using marijuana. He was eventually arrested and paid a fine of $412 to end the case. A backup offensive lineman arrested for marijuana seemed inconsequential back then, but it was only the beginning.

2. Mikel Leshoure's arrests - Being arrested once for having marijuana in your car is bad. Being arrested a second time for marijuana possession only a few weeks later is worse. However, that is exactly what Leshoure did this offseason. Leshoure eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana and paid $575 in fines. Leshoure and Culbreath's arrests raised the eyebrows of many NFL observers.

3. David Hawthorne's trip to Detroit - While not on the Leshoure or Culbreath level, Hawthorne's treatment by the Lions was bizarre, nonetheless. Detroit was in the midst of negotiations with free agent Stephen Tulloch and decided to bring in Seattle Seahawks linebacker David Hawthorne. The negotiating ploy worked and Tulloch re-signed with the Lions. However, Hawthorne was on an airplane headed to Detroit when Tulloch signed. Upon hearing the news after he landed, Hawthorne stayed one night in Detroit, never visited the facility, and flew home the next morning. He eventually signed a five-year contract with the New Orleans Saints.

4. Nick Fairley's arrest - Questions about drug problems in Allen Park hit the fan when Nick Fairley was arrested for marijuana possession in early April. Fairley was allegedly speeding through a residential neighborhood. When police officers eventually caught Fairley, they found marijuana in his car. The latest marijuana arrest was so embarrassing for Detroit, the team issued a press release stating it did not condone this type of behavior.

5. Titus Young punching a teammate - Just when it seemingly could not get any worse, troubled Lions receiver Titus Young punched teammate Louis Delmas when he was not looking during voluntary workouts last week. The sucker punch resulted in Young being banned from the team's facility. Young was also the fourth player from Detroit's 2011 NFL Draft class to encounter trouble this offseason. Lions linebacker Doug Hogue is the only remaining player from that draft class who has not gotten into trouble.

Oh, and we are only in May.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/20 ... zarre.html

Lions put out word that Titus Young is not suspended
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 22, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT

Officially, the Detroit Lions are not commenting on the sucker punch that receiver Titus Young threw at safety Louis Delmas last week, or explaining why Young did not participate in the first day of organized team activities. But they’re informally putting out word that Young is not suspended.

Tim Twentyman, who works for the team as the lead writer at DetroitLions.com, took to Twitter on Tuesday to acknowledge that Young and Delmas had a scuffle but say Young is not suspended.

“The reports from yesterday that Titus Young is on suspension from the Lions is inaccurate, according to multiple league sources,” Twentyman wrote. “The incident with Delmas did occur last week, but Young is not on any type of team suspension.”

Twentyman doesn’t specify which reports are inaccurate, probably because he can’t name any reports that actually said the Lions had suspended Young: What the reports said is that Young was told to stay home from voluntary organized team activities. That’s not the same thing as a team suspending a player, which entails a formal process outlined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Twentyman also doesn’t explain why Young was absent from organized team activities, or why he was the only receiver who didn’t attend the Detroit Tigers game last week when Calvin Johnson threw out the first pitch. When Johnson was asked about Young’s absence, he said, “We can’t talk about that.”

Regardless, the Lions clearly have a discipline problem on their hands with Young. They took him in the second round of the NFL draft last year despite questions about his maturity after a college career at Boise State that featured two team suspensions totaling 10 games. Those questions about his maturity continued into his rookie season with the Lions, when he was flagged for some stupid penalties, and now those questions are continuing into the start of his second year in the NFL. The Lions haven’t suspended Young yet, but if they want him to change his ways, maybe they’ll need to soon.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... suspended/

Lions’ Tulloch missing OTAs with knee tendonitis
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 22, 2012, 9:33 AM EDT

Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch is not participating in organized team activities as he deals with tendonitis in his left knee.

Coach Jim Schwartz said Tulloch may be out for a while, but he sounded optimistic that this won’t affect him heading in training camp or the regular season.

“Tulloch will not participate through May, and after that we will take it as it goes,” Schwartz told the Detroit News. “He had tendonitis and we did an injection to settle it down. He’s not weight-bearing [on his leg] right now. We will get it settled down and there won’t be surgery or anything like that.”

Schwartz said he’d rather err on the side of caution during OTAs and give players time off if some rest will help.

“There will be guys who miss for a variety of reasons,” Schwartz said. “The one thing you don’t want to do at this time of year is push through and injury situation. There comes a time when you have to push through, during the season and even in training camp. Now the really important thing is getting right and getting healthy.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... endonitis/

Semantics and intent with Titus Young case
May, 22, 2012
By Kevin Seifert | ESPN.com

Tuesday, Tim Twentyman of the team's official web site reported that Young's absence "was not the result of any punitive action by the team," citing multiple league sources. Further, Young has "not been ordered to stay away from the facility by the team and is not on any team-mandated suspension," Twentyman wrote.

In NFL parlance, the word "suspension" is meaningful and implies a formal process that could involve the NFL Players Association. It's not surprising to hear the Lions haven't formally pursued that avenue in dealing with Young.

But are we truly to believe the Lions took no action after one of their team leaders got punched at the team facility, especially after a 2011 season that raised questions about the team's maturity and discipline? Young's absence might not have been the result of a formal suspension, but for the Lions' sake, I hope they are doing something in response to this incident.

Regardless, if Young were truly welcome at the facility, then why didn't he participate in Monday's OTA after taking part in earlier portions of the offseason program? Twentyman wrote that Young "will have to provide" the answer to that question "when he eventually joins his teammates."

Does that mean Young chose to stay away on his own? OTAs, like most of the offseason program, is voluntary, but there were only a handful of absences Monday.

In the end, this is all a discussion of semantics and legalese. The bottom line is that Young punched Delmas last week, and something kept him away from the facility Monday. Did the Lions encourage it? Request it? Suggest it? Agree with Young's decision? I have a hard time believing they were not involved in the decision in some way shape or form. The alternative is that they've done nothing to deal with this incident. Which do you think is more likely?

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... young-case

Great. I can see WJB now saying, "I told everyone when they drafted him that they shouldnt have".

Honestly, I really don't care that he punched Delmas. Delmas probably deserved it. You should never hit a teammate, but Delmas is over-zealous. Without seeing the whole thing, I really can't say that TY was completely in the wrong.

yet you can say that Delmas deserved it....