Vikings Sign Lito Sheppard; Lions Release Michael Matthews

Cornerback Lito Sheppard is no longer a free agent, because he has signed with a team in the NFC North.  That team is not the Detroit Lions, but rather the Minnesota Vikings, who were also in the market for help in the secondary.  Sheppard's visit to Minnesota quickly resulted in a deal with the Vikings, which was obviously not the case with his visit to the Lions a couple weeks ago.  There's no word on if Sheppard received an offer and decided to pass or if the Lions simply weren't ready to make a move, but whatever the case, he is now going to be lining up against Matthew Stafford and company in 2010.

In other news, the Lions released tight end Michael Matthews on Tuesday.  Yes, like most of you probably just did when reading that, I also went "Who?" when I saw the news.  As it turns out, Matthews was signed to the active roster last December to replace Casey FitzSimmons on the roster after he went on injured reserve.  Matthews was undoubtedly released because the Lions just traded for tight end Tony Scheffler.

Matthews was not without a team for long, though, because the Bills have already decided to claim the now former Lion.