Lewand and Goodell have likely chatted this offseason. (US Presswire)

The Lions have spent their offseason making news for most of the wrong reasons: whether it be arrests for Nick Fairley, Mikel LeShoure and Johnny Culbreath or Titus Young punching Louis Delmas in training camp, it hasn't been a good run.

And the Lions are acutely aware that the illegal behavior by some players could result in games missed. Lions president Tom Lewand said Tuesday that suspensions are "certainly ... a possibility" and even called them "likely."

"Suspensions are certainly something that could be a possibility, and I would say likely if you look at similar types of incidences on other teams," Lewand said Tuesday, per Terry Foster of The Detroit News. "But typically what the commissioner likes to do is see it play out in the legal process, see the matter is adjudicated because we can't lose sight of the fact. And I'm not making excuses for anybody, but the reason the commissioner lets the legal process play out is because of the time-honored tradition of innocent until proven guilty."

Lewand's right, and the legal process is important. But it's not like the Commissioner's office is afraid to suspend players without a guilty verdict.

And if Roger Goodell decides to drop the hammer on several different Lions, it's entirely possible that the team could end up getting punished as well. All of this has led to, predictably, the Lions getting a "Bad Boys" reputation around the NFL. But Lewand doesn't necessarily think that's fair, and makes a salient point about the impact of the arrested players on the roster.

"I don't know if people are saying that [the Lions are bad boys]," Lewand said. "The guys you are talking about did not have a major impact on the team. You have to look at the vast majority of the 80-85 players in that dressing room who have been model citizens."

The good news for the Lions is that the rash of arrests this offseason brought a pretty solid amount of blowback from the local and national media. And that resulted in a pretty unhappy big boss man, as Bill Ford, Jr called out some of the younger players.

That appears to have resulted in the Lions slowing their roll on bad behavior, as the only news they've made in the month of June appears to be in the form of public apologies. For a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a reputation that was starting to get out of control, that' a good thing.

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