The Detroit Lions released veteran cornerback Fernando Bryant today, ending his career in the Motor City after suffering through many injury-filled season.
Bryant (5-10, 175) signed with Detroit as an unrestricted free agent in 2004. In four seasons with the Lions, he played and started in 38 games and registered 180 tackles, 2 interceptions, 34 pass defenses, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Although this move is not surprising at all, it does concern me considering the Lions have absolutely no depth left at the cornerback position. It was bad even with Bryant, but now that he is gone, the Lions really have no one left. The lack of a decent secondary cost Detroit any chance of winning many times in 2007, so the Lions better start thinking about how they're going to fix the huge hole on the depth chart at cornerback.
Last season, Bryant started all 16 games and garnered 76 tackles (65 solo) while matching career highs with 14 pass defenses and 2 interceptions. He suffered a foot injury in the ninth game (at Arizona, 11/11/07) but fought through it to finish the 2007 season without missing a game.