Lions in talks with Rashean Mathis

There hasn't been much activity on the cornerback market involving the Detroit Lions. They were briefly connected to free agent Alterraun Verner, but that didn't go anywhere before he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Actually, the Lions have seemed quite content with the cornerbacks already on their roster despite the position struggling quite a bit as a whole throughout last season.

Really, the only truly consistent cornerback on the roster in 2013 for the Lions was Rashean Mathis, who became a free agent a couple weeks ago. There has been absolutely no news on Mathis speaking with other teams or anything like that since free agency began, though, indicating that there's not much of a market for him. He was quite good last season, but he will be 34 by the time the 2014 season begins.

The lack of a market for Mathis is good news for the Lions, as he could potentially return on a pretty affordable deal. It's unclear how far along negotiations with Mathis are at this point, but Lions general manager Martin Mayhew did say on Monday that talks are underway to bring back the veteran cornerback.

Lost in all the other news from today: Martin Mayhew said the Lions are in discussions with Rashean Mathis about a possible return

— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) March 24, 2014

As it stands right now, the Lions' projected starting cornerbacks are Chris Houston and Darius Slay. They also have Bill Bentley, Jonte Green and Chris Greenwood at the position. There's enough depth right now, but there's no guarantee that Houston will bounce back from a rough 2013, and there's especially no guarantee that Slay will take a big step forward in his second season in the league. As a result, re-signing Mathis as added insurance would make a lot of sense, especially when you consider that he was the Lions' most reliable cornerback last season.