The Lions feature some of the NFL's greatest stars. Safety Louis Delmas isn't one of them. He is a good player, and in the grand scheme of the Detroit Lions, that makes him pure gold because of the position he plays.
He is the last line of defense. He is not only the Lions' best safety - he is by far their best safety. Last season, when he went out of the lineup with a knee injury, the Lions defense went into the tank.
The Lions did a good job retaining their players during the off season, but the one player they lost was a veteran starting cornerback, Eric Wright..Cornerback Aaron Berry was going to be a good player for the Lions replacing Wright. We know what happened there...
The Lions roster is unbalanced with the salary cap. Too much invested in receivers (second-round pick Ryan Broyles is a potentially a great player, but where does he fit any need right now?) and defensive line ($10.6 million for Cliff Avrill with good depth at his position), and clearly not enough in the secondary. If Delmas is out, cornerback Chris Houston is the only member of the Lions' secondary who would start for most NFL teams. It's not a good sign when Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Michael Vick, etc loom on the Lions' schedule this coming season.