Former Pitt Cornerback Aaron Berry Blows Chance With Lions

Former Pitt cornerback Aaron Berry appeared to have everything going for him. After going undrafted, he caught on with the Lions. He made real progress, even getting some playing time.

There was some trouble along the way, though. He ripped fans for essentially being poor and then had an alleged DUI in June. Still, he was able to weather the storm a bit and get through things.

Berry appeared to be the frontrunner for a starting spot on the team for 2012. That's all out the window now as he was cut by the team this week after his second brush with the law this year.

The Lions made the move shortly thereafter and Berry pretty much said it all in his statement:

"Words cannot describe how embarrassed I am right now," he said. "I've let my family, my teammates, my coaches and the entire Detroit Lions organization, including the fans down and I'm so sorry. I know it sounds crazy to some people, but I know I will continue to get better and grow from this unfortunate experience, I have no choice but to get better. There are always two sides to every story and the legal process will be where I will tell my side regarding this recent incident."

We don't know what Berry's 'story' is, but the problem isn't even necessarily what happened ... it's that he even let himself get into a situation where something could happen. The incident happened early Saturday morning and Berry was allegedly carrying a weapon. Simply not a smart move when you're just weeks removed from getting into trouble.

Berry's case is really frustrating because he clearly worked hard to get to the spot he was in. Moreover, he was in good shape to start this season. Undrafted free agents don't always find themselves starting in their third season and Berry really had a good thing going.

In the end, he left the team with little choice. Frankly, after the Twitter dust-up and the June incident, there was reason to cut ties with him then just because the team has had their share of troubles and didn't need anymore bad publicity. This one took the cake and the Lions had no choice, really, and that was even more evident because he was a fairly marginal player.

Berry's young enough that he should get another shot, but this was definitely a squandered opportunity.

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