The Detroit Lions’ roster cuts continued on Tuesday, as defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch followed Titus Young out the door according to the Free Press’ Dave Birkett.

As with the release of Young, though for very different reasons, the departure of Vanden Bosch was no surprise to anyone, including the player himself.

According to Birkett, Vanden Bosch met with the team last week about the decision. He also had nothing but good things to say about the organization:

From a “return on investment” standpoint, Vanden Bosch was not worth the money he was due to get—from the March roster bonus of $2 million to the $5 million base for the year. His production was always a bit up and down, and the money set to go his way this year just wasn’t justified.

If I have a concern, it’s from a leadership standpoint. This is already a team which appears to lack strong leadership in general and, as MLive.com’s Justin Rogers points out, Vanden Bosch was a key influence in the development of some players like Cliff Avril and Lawrence Jackson.

Of course, just because Vanden Bosch is gone doesn’t mean he stays gone—he could be brought back at a much more cap-friendly price. Nor does it mean that the Lions will be bereft of leadership—it’s too early to say who will or won’t be back, and it’s possible someone else steps up and takes on the role.

In the end, from a statistical or production standpoint, Vanden Bosch shouldn’t be missed all that much.

One hopes that someone steps up so that’s also the case in the locker room.

On to more NFC North news.

Detroit Lions

Titus Young is already not popular with some of his new Rams teammates (or their agents) according to MLive.com’s Anwar Richardson. This should end well.

While Young’s tenure with the Lions ended spectacularly badly, Anthony Kuehn of LionsGab.com writes in the Free Press that GM Marty Mayhew doesn’t deserve as much criticism as he has received for picking the volatile wide receiver in the first place.

celebrate their former receiver’s career in the wake of his retirement announcement last week.

In other news unrelated to drivers, Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin examines the extremely difficult group of opponents the Packers will face in 2013.

Minnesota Vikings

1500 ESPN’s Tom Pelissero recaps some of head coach Leslie Frazier’s interview with the station’s “Judd & Dubay” show including thoughts on the relationship between Frazier, the team and Percy Harvin. 

Bob Sansevere of the Pioneer Press interviewed Super Bowl champion Ravens center Matt Birk about how good the former Vikings center thinks his old team is.