Detroit Lions Preseason: 6 Veterans Who Have Been Disappointments so Far

Using "disappointment" and "preseason" in the same sentence is something I generally try to avoid.

I'm a consistent advocate of the preseason as 80 percent meaningless and 20 percent player progression and observation. As such, I have a difficult time writing off a player who has performed in the regular season simply because of preseason action.

But alas, it's still August, and as we're all chomping at the bit for regular season football, all we can do is analyze what's in front of us.

For rookies, preseason is a multi-stage audition, on which the future of their career is riding. For proven veterans, it's time to knock the rust off or to learn their new team's system. So just because the guys on this list have had a rough couple of games, it doesn't mean they're going to get cut or that their shaky play will carry over to the regular season.

It just means they might get a stern talking-to by the coach.

And that I'm going to call them out in this article.

Justin Durant

Perhaps the most telling sign of Justin Durant's tenure with the Lions so far is that I can't find a good picture of him in a Lions uniform.

Frankly, for all the buzz about the Lions' free agent linebacker signings, none of them have made much noise in the Lions' defense. Except Bobby Carpenter, of course, who looks like he could be the best linebacker on the team right now.

Stephen Tulloch hasn't performed particularly well either, but he hasn't looked out of place, and he doesn't have anybody pushing for his position.

Durant has been completely silent throughout the preseason, while Carpenter is possibly the second team's biggest playmaker at Durant's position.

It's months too early to say anything definitive about Durant, and the fact that both he and Tulloch seem to be struggling suggests they might be facing a difficult learning curve (Carpenter didn't come on until he had been with the team for several weeks, either).

Still, Durant is expected to start for the Lions, and at the rate he's going, he won't.

Shaun Hill

Last year, Shaun Hill looked at times like a quarterback that could take a team to the playoffs. He really is the quintessential game manager at heart, but with the Lions' running game unable to get started, Hill had to take the offense on his back at times.

The Lions have had the same issue with the running game so far this preseason, and Hill has looked shaky at best. His stat line (13-for-17, 116 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT) looks fine, but that's just another example of the stats not telling the whole story.

Hill looks indecisive and inaccurate in two games thus far, and what's worse is that Drew Stanton is starting to show him up by making big plays in the second half of games. Yeah, he's doing it against third-stringers, but he has third-string players catching his passes, too.

Now, we all know Stanton is terribly inconsistent, and Hill was a slow starter last year, too. It seemed to take two or three weeks for his motor to get fired up, and then he was highly effective. Of course, a backup is the guy you want to be able to come off the bench and be plug-and-play, so being a slow starter is not exactly a ringing endorsement for Hill.

The Lions would like for Hill to show a lot more than he has thus far, but I doubt his position as backup is in any jeopardy.  Everybody knows it takes some sort of epic catastrophe for Stanton to climb off the bottom rung of the depth chart.

Louis Delmas

I hesitated calling Louis Delmas a "veteran," since he is only entering his third year. But he has two years of consistent starting experience, unlike most third-year players, so I'll take him off the bubble and include him.

Especially since he's being outplayed by Amari Spievey.

Now, this is a good problem to have. A rising star safety being outplayed by an unexpected star rising even faster? All teams should be that lucky. Spievey looks fantastic, and Delmas isn't in any danger after a couple of sloppy preseason games.

But Delmas was supposed to be back to 150 percent of his normal output, wasn't he? With his groin injury healed, the defense upgraded, and two years' experience under his belt, wasn't this set to be Delmas' breakout season? The one where he made the Pro Bowl and everyone looked silly for not putting him among DROY candidates in 2009?

It could still happen (I can't stress enough, this is still the preseason), but right now he's not even the best safety on his own team, much less in the NFL.

The most notable play Delmas made against the Browns is a missed tackle in which he tried to launch himself as a human projectile at the Browns' running back. He bounced off the bigger man, and the play turned into a big gain—all because Delmas was too cool for a wrap-up tackle.

Now, I'm all for big hits. If Delmas wants to flatten a slot receiver on a crossing route, I'll be the first to support him. He just needs to make sure the guy goes down. And if he's the last line of defense for a while, maybe go the safe route and wrap up? Especially when he's giving up 20 pounds on the matchup?

Dominic Raiola/Stephen Peterman

In theory, Stephen Peterman is a great run blocker. In theory, Dominic Raiola is intelligent enough to identify defenses and crafty enough to make up for his lack of size.

But in actuality, these guys have created about as much leverage against opposing defensive lines as I would if I went out and tried to shove a house a few feet to the right.

Much of the hope regarding the running game revolved around the line coming together and improving because of intangibles like chemistry and trust. It is, after all, the first time they've had a hroup this consistent.

On top of that, Peterman needed to get healthy. Everything would be fine after that, right? I don't think Peterman's foot is bothering him much anymore, but he and Raiola have been completely ineffective so far this preseason when moving forwards.

It's worth noting that both are doing a fine job in pass protection, as is the entire offensive line, several teams deep. Every Lions quarterback has come off the field with nary a scratch thus far. The worst shot to a quarterback was on Shaun Hill after his seven-yard touchdown run.

Running backs, on the other hand, have not fared so well. The top three running backs on the roster are out with injuries right now. Maybe you can't attribute that entirely to the line, but the fact that the Lions are averaging about three yards per carry is pretty incriminating.

Nathan Vasher

Like Bobby Carpenter, Nathan Vasher joined the Lions last year because the team was low on options.

Like Carpenter, Vasher got increased playing time as the season went on and put up some huge (game-saving, in some cases) performances during the four-game winning streak late last year.

Unlike Carpenter, Vasher has not impressed much of anybody so far in preseason. While he's not an easy target to burn, he also hasn't been a playmaker of any notoriety. He has talented young corners pushing him for his roster spot, and he responded in Cleveland by mugging Josh Cribbs for a 27-yard pass interference call.

Vasher benefited at once point from Jim Schwartz's tendency to keep one veteran on the team in each position group, but he has Eric Wright and Chris Houston for that now. Both are veterans, and both are younger and more talented than him.

Meanwhile, Brandon McDonald, Aaron Berry, and Alphonso Smith will all be looking to fill the roster spot he occupied last year. Vasher is one of the only guys on this list in danger of actually being cut. He'll have to show much, much better if he wants to beat the talent and upside-laden guys gunning for his place.

The Injured Veterans

In order to really make a full assessment of this Lions team, we really need to see guys like Jeff Backus, Maurice Morris and Gosder Cherilus join the team.

Cherilus has been back for a little while, and Backus just recently re-joined practice. Morris is expected to return soon, so, slowly-but-surely, the starting squad is starting to work its way back.

But to this point, it's disappointing that they haven't been able to play more than they have, especially given the fact that they all will play integral roles with the team this year (Morris especially, given the injuries to the other two backs).

Now, these veterans all know what they're doing, so it's not as bad losing practice time for these guys as it is for Nick Fairley, Titus Young and Mikel Leshoure. But still, preseason injuries hurt. We don't know if the run game might drastically improve somehow with Backus instead of Corey Hilliard.

Morris has been one of the Lions' most dependable between-the-tackles rusher and will have to do it again this year.

Cherilus looks for be all the way back, but microfracture surgery is risky stuff. Everybody will be keeping an eye on him for signs of weakness.

Having these guys practicing every day would help the team build chemistry and give everybody a better look at what the team should be like. Sure, priority one is making sure everybody is healthy for the regular season opener.

By that count, the Lions are doing exactly what they should be—keeping everybody with even the smallest injury out to heal it up.

That doesn't change the fact that it's disappointing that they were injured in the first place.