When the Detroit Lions return for the start of their off-season conditioning program Monday, a couple players can expect a stern talking to from receiver Nate Burleson.
One of the Lions’ most influential locker-room leaders, Burleson said he plans to have “a quiet, private conversation” with some of the players who ran afoul of the law in marijuana-related incidents this year.
“I’m just going to say tighten up,” Burleson said during an appearance on "Total Access" Thursday on NFL Network. “We’ve done too much to get to where we’re at. There’s been a black cloud hanging over Detroit for so long, so for us to go from 6-10 to 10-6 and feel like we’re heading in the right direction and just a few mistakes happen, we’ve got to tell the young guys to get it together.
“But here’s the thing, I really believe that, in the analogy of football, you’ve got to fumble in order to have great ball security. So in life, these guys got to stumble a little bit. And you know as a young guy in the league, you’re going to make those mistakes and hopefully this is just one thing that happens and doesn’t happen again for a lot of these guys.”
Three members of the Lions’ 2011 draft class have been cited or arrested four times for possession of marijuana since January.
Offensive tackle Johnny Culbreath paid a fine after being arrested for possession of the drug in a South Carolina hotel in January. Running back Mikel Leshoure was ticketed twice on the same charges after traffic stops in west Michigan in February and March; he paid a fine for use of marijuana on the first charge and has pleaded not guilty to the second. And defensive tackle Nick Fairley was arrested last week in Mobile, Ala.
“I’m a little bit different, I don’t want to put people on blast in front of the team,” Burleson said. “Sometimes you’re going to need to do that. Or a certain guy, certain situations, they need to feel that embarrassment of everybody looking down on them. But some of these guys that we saw on the board, these are good young men and I know that they’re passionate about being professional athletes, it’s just that they make mistakes.”
And what happens if a talking-to doesn’t work?
“Obviously, when you talk to a young guy and he doesn’t listen, the old-school method is physical confrontation,” Burleson said. “I came (into the NFL in) ‘03 and some of these vets, they put your hands on you before they let you damage what they helped build. But I don’t think we’re going to get to that. And also coaches might say we’re just going to sit the guy down, we’re going to take the guy away from him and then see how he responds.”
Burleson said he doesn’t expect the off-field incidents to carry over onto the field this year, where he said the Lions are ready to win the NFC North title after going 10-6 and finishing second behind the Green Bay Packers last year.
“I don’t want to sit here and tell you what we’re going to do,” he said. “Obviously, I’m confident in the team. We lost a couple close games to Green Bay, split with Chicago and we had a good showing against Minnesota last year. But from the outside perspective I think everybody looks at it like this: Green Bay’s driving the car, up front in the passenger (seat) is Chicago. In the back you’ve got the Vikings, you’ve got the Lions. We’re sitting there begging them, asking them, ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’
“It’s time for us to get out of the car and see who wants to drive. The division is up for everybody who wants it. We’ve got a tough division and I like it.”
