Chris Houston: Lions hurt by impending free agents in 2012
By Mike Dyce
The Detroit Lions underachieved to put it nicely in 2012. They had a lot of players facing free agency this summer and defensive back Chris Houston thinks that affected their locker room and on-field chemistry. Usually the notion is that players headed into free agency perform exceptionally well to try and earn a new contract, Houston disagrees.
“It left a bad taste, but you can see the chemistry is so much better now,” Houston said, via Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. “A lot of guys were working for themselves last year. We got a lot of young guys now and they listen, no big egos or nothing. It’s going to be a much better year.”
The Lions have been forced to use multiple safeties, this also led to a lack of chemistry according to Houston.
“I probably played with 20 different safeties since I’ve been here, five or six just last year,” said Houston. “There was no camaraderie, no communication. We’d get a safety off the street and he’d try to learn everything in the playbook in a week. We got a lot of bigger guys now, speed guys. When you got set pieces and they understand each other, you can play fast and gamble and make more plays, like in 2011.”