Lions safeties get in line

ALLEN PARK -- When it comes to the safety position for the Detroit Lions , there's rookie Louis Delmas, and then there's everybody else. Delmas, a second-round pick and 33rd overall choice in the draft out of Western Michigan, already has cemented one of the starting spots -- or will, when coach Jim Schwartz finally draws up an official depth chart. The other position is wide open and it's being contested by several players, including Kalvin Pearson, Daniel Bullocks and Marquand Manuel. Throughout the offseason workouts and for most of camp, Pearson has assumed the safety position next to Delmas. Pearson, though, isn't reading anything into that. "Not right now, because they say everything's up for grabs," said Pearson, who joined the Lions last season as a free agent. "I'm coming into this year like I always do. I'm going to work every day like I'm not a starter and wait for the first game." Bullocks, a second-round pick in 2006, started 15 games last year, but he's been working with the No. 2 and No. 3 defensive units because he couldn't practice much in the offseason because of a knee injury. Bullocks said he realizes this isn't the same coaching staff that made him a high draft pick and he has to earn their confidence. "The past is the past, and you have to go prove yourself every day to the coaches. You just don't want to make the same mistakes twice," said Bullocks, adding that his position on the depth chart isn't a shock. "I'm not surprised. I'm just taking it day by day and not worrying about the depth chart. We have four preseason games, so there's really no depth chart right now. In the offseason, I didn't get that many reps so this is really just my third day of work. I'm just getting started, and I'm trying to get better and better." Manuel, going into his eighth year, also is in the mix because of his versatility. He's had 52 career starts, including 14 last year with Denver. Pearson started 10 games last season for the injured Dwight Smith, marking the first time in his five-year career that he started more than one game in a season. Pearson, who spent his first four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made his reputation as a strong and versatile special teams player. Pearson averaged 10 tackles per game in his first four games of full-time duty but then his play started to drop off. Before a season-ending 10-tackle game against the Green Bay Packers, Pearson was averaging just five tackles for the previous seven games. Pearson is 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, and his lack of size might have been a contributing factor, but Pearson doesn't buy it. Neither does Schwartz. "If you said size was an issue last year for (Tennessee cornerback) Cortland Finnegan, he's 5-9 and maybe 185 pounds, but he's incredibly durable," Schwartz said. "I don't want to put (Pearson) into a box, so to speak, and say he can't hold up for the season. I want to keep an open mind and give him an opportunity." "It's not size at all," Pearson said. "I see guys like (Antoine) Winfield who are smaller than me, a guy like Dwight Smith is the same size and he's been a starter. Size, that's a made-up word to me." Pearson said the real problem was the size of his workload. Even though he stepped into a starting role, he stayed on all of the special teams units. "What NFL player do you know of who played every down and all the special teams, and stayed productive all of the way through? It's kind of difficult," Pearson said. "(If I start,) we'll have to cut down something somewhere. Starters in the league might play on one special teams unit so they can keep fresh. Special teams is a game into its own."