Jeff Riger: Crew Without Suh
Monday morning at Detroit Country Day in Beverly Hills the Lions gathered once again for player led workouts and there was a familiar face not in attendance. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was nowhere to be found and his team mates were totally fine with it. "Whoever doesn't show up is not being looked at as guys that are dodging this or non team players" said center Dominic Raiola. Suh missed the last series of workouts a couple of weeks ago and is expected to miss this entire week as well. Despite Suh not being around, players are convinced that the defensive rookie of the year is putting in the work and will be ready when the lock out ends.
Detroit players got a chance to see their new running back on Monday as Mikel Leshoure was present and ready to take everything in. Leshoure told the media how grateful he was to the veterans on the team that they have made his tough transition go rather smoothly. Leshoure also admitted that he wondered if coming to the workouts without a contract was the right move to make. "That's something that I did talk to my agent about, but you don't really want to be too selfish and look at it that way, you just want to get here and get better" Leshoure said. Quarterback Matthew Stafford compared his new back Leshoure to second year running back Jahvid Best saying "they are different kinds of backs, Jahvid's got breakaway speed and is a home run threat every time he touches the ball while I haven't seen Leshoure play a whole bunch but he can get out there and go when he needs to but he is also very productive as an every down back."
One of the questions asked of the players on Monday was how they will feel when they will see the coaches on Tuesday at a charity golf outing. Of course the players and coaches have not been able to talk to each other about football topics due to the lockout but that could change on Tuesday. "Maybe we can sneak in a secret conversation tomorrow" said Raiola. Raiola then took it back shouting to Commissioner Roger Goddell that he was just kidding while laughing. A lot of the players seemed excited to see the coaches for the first time since the season ended.
