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The Detroit Lions dealt with numerous issues at cornerback last season. Injuries and inconsistent play plagued the position, and cornerback has been viewed as one of the Lions' top needs this offseason as a result.
It remains to be seen if the Lions will address the cornerback position at all in the upcoming draft, but they did address it on Monday by signing free agent Cassius Vaughn to a one-year deal, according to Dave Birkett. Vaughn was in town on Monday to work out for the Lions, and considering he has signed with them, that workout must have gone well.
Vaughn joins the Lions after spending the last two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. His NFL career began in 2010 as a member of the Denver Broncos, and they traded him to Indy in 2012. In 2013, Vaughn made four starts for the Colts and had 30 tackles, 6 passes defended, 3 interceptions and 1 forced fumble. On Pro Football Focus, Vaughn finished with a -3.7 grade last season, which was a big improvement over the -15.4 mark he received in 2012.
Rather than re-sign the 33-year-old Rashean Mathis as extra depth at cornerback, it seems the Lions opted to get younger by adding Vaughn, who is only 26. The Lions have more than enough bodies at cornerback at this point with Vaughn, Chris Houston, Darius Slay, Bill Bentley, Chris Greenwood and Jonte Green, but now they need some of these guys to really step it up going forward. Hopefully that will happen and the Lions will finally be able to remove cornerback from their list of needs.