C.J. Mosley apologizes to Matthew Stafford for injuring him in 2009

Back in 2009, Matthew Stafford earned the respect of Detroit Lions fans and football fans in general by playing through a separated shoulder to throw the game-winning touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. His injury was not a good thing at all, especially considering he continued to deal with shoulder injuries over the course of the next year. However, with Stafford being mic'd up, everybody got a look at exactly why the Lions drafted him first overall.

One of the people we have to thank for setting that dramatic sequence of events in motion is defensive tackle C.J. Mosley, who signed with the Lions on Wednesday. He was the Browns player who delivered the hit that separated Stafford's left shoulder, and he ran into Stafford -- this time in a much friendlier way -- in the locker room on Wednesday. Now that they're teammates, Mosley took the time to apologize to Stafford for injuring him. From the Lions' official site:

"I actually just ran into Stafford in the locker room today and the first thing he said was, 'I remember this guy," Mosley told Detroitlions.com after signing his contract. "I said, 'Look, man, I apologize.' He said there were no hard feelings. We shook hands. We're cool.

"You can tell the City of Detroit and all the fans that I apologize."

It was a clean hit, so it's no surprise that there were no hard feelings to begin with. Even so, it's a nice gesture on Mosley's part, and I'm sure Stafford is glad that Mosley is now on his team rather than an opposing one.