Aaron Berry Contending For Starting Spot With Detroit Lions

When Aaron Berry was at Pitt, it was easy to not be all that impressed. He was solid, but unspectacular and was also a part of some pretty mediocre secondary units.

Going unselected in the NFL Draft wasn't a surprise to anyone, really. But since then, Berry not only hooked on with the Detroit Lions, but he's also been contributing for the team playing regularly. Now, Berry could be going from reliable corner to starter for the Lions.

Berry was mostly the third cornerback for Detroit behind Eric Wright and now with Wright not around, you can count opposing starter, Chris Houston, among Berry's supporters for a starting role:

Chris Houston is the starter on the left side, and Aaron Berry, last year's nickel cornerback, practiced with the first team on the right side last week. Houston said he thinks Berry has what it takes to hold on to the starting job.

"Berry started last year in some games," Houston said. "He came in and he was the third corner after Eric (Wright). He came in and held his own.

"I know he's hungry and ready to get out there and show people what he's got. He's a little underrated. But I like it like that because that'll get some balls thrown to him and let him make some plays."

Lions' Wide receiver Nate Burleson (who burned me more times than I care to count in Fantasy Football) also has good things to say about Berry:

Earlier this week, Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson had some praise for cornerback Aaron Berry by saying that he doesn't think "there's too many CBs in the league that bump coverage like him."

Then there's another important player who thinks Berry is ready: Himself.

Berry recently talked about his own abilities:

"When I'm healthy, I feel like I'm the best player out there and that's the attitude you're supposed to have," Berry said. "The biggest thing for me is just staying healthy and staying on the field and out of that trainers room.

He's not been without his shortcomings, though. As I mentioned before, Berry had an ugly tweeting incident earlier this year, telling fans they 'can go back to being broke and miserable' after a playoff loss. Frankly, I never understood the incredible hypocrisy by athletes (many of which come from modest or less than modest backgrounds financially) that come out and rip fans for not having as much money as they do ... but, whatever. But he appears to have moved on from the incident and quickly going into backpedal mode probably helped at least a small bit.

About that starting spot, though - It's not as if Berry is without competition for the starting spot, but much of that seems to be coming from rookies. All signs point to Berry getting the job and I'll be excited to see what he does with it. He's worked hard to even stick in the NFL and the fact that he can compete to become a starter shows he's pretty much beaten the odds.

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