This Week in Ex-Lions

Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes it’s fun to check in with what some former Detroit Lions are up to. This was an eventful week for some ex-Lions.

Andre Fluellen

The prodigal Lion saw his ninth go around with the team come to an end.

A third-round pick by the Lions back in 2008, the defensive tackle has appeared in 79 career games for Detroit. He has 44 tackles and 4.5 sacks in seven starts, including one game in 2015. If this is indeed the end for “Flu”, he should hold his head up in pride. Though he was drafted about three rounds too high, Fluellen carved himself a solid, if unstable, career for being an undersized tackle. He received strong applause from the Ford Field faithful when he made his return in preseason.

Chris Greenwood

A fifth-round pick by Detroit back in 2012, the lanky cornerback has bounced around the league since being cut in the 2014 offseason. Most recently, he was trying to stick with the New England Patriots. The Albion grad saw his Patriot games end this week.

It might be time for the oft-injured Greenwood to hang up the cleats.

By the way, the other ex-Lion recently cut from the Patriots practice squad is none other than Joe Fauria. How the once mighty has fallen…

Jim Schwartz

The Detroit head coach from 2009-13 is not remembered fondly by most Lions fans. He’s regarded even less by the media who had to deal with his truculent arrogance on a daily basis. Yet he just might have found a gig where he can absolve some Lions-era sins.

Schwartz was named to the NFL’s “catch committee”, a six-member panel tasked with clearing up the notoriously shady and confusing question of what exactly constitutes a catch in today’s NFL.

You might recall Schwartz presiding over the most famous of several officiating snafus, the Calvin Johnson touchdown which was somehow ruled not a catch and brought the phrase “complete the process of the catch” into the football vernacular.

Schwartz also got a rule infamously named after him in a Thanksgiving loss to Houston, when the blind turkeys masquerading as officials failed to notice Justin Forsett being tackled on a long TD play. Schwartz launched his red challenge flag in defiant–and correct–protest, but the net effect was a penalty for challenging a play which was not reviewable. This officiating debacle directly led to all scoring plays being reviewed regardless of situation.

The gruff, blunt Schwartz is a great addition to this panel. For all his faults, he’s opinionated and as stubborn as a tired donkey. His experience being on the wrong end of the officiating hose several times should create for some interesting input.

Reggie Bush

In light of this week’s trip to St. Louis to face the Rams, let’s hope the current Lions fare better than former teammate Reggie Bush in the Gateway City.

Reggie Bush (23) is carted off the field after being injured during the first half against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Bush had his season, and perhaps his career, end in the half-empty craphole that the Rams call home. He tore up his knee when he encountered exposed concrete surrounding the field of play.

The running back is suing the regional sports authority which manages the facility. One week before Bush, now a San Francisco 49er, got hurt, Browns QB Josh McCown suffered an injury with the same concrete.

The Rams have now covered all the exposed areas in a stopgap effort. There is a good chance this is Detroit’s last trip to St. Louis, as the Rams are almost universally cited as a relocation candidate to either Los Angeles (from whence they came) or even London. Let’s hope nobody suffers Bush’s fate on Sunday.