ALLEN PARK — Glover Quin returned to the field on Tuesday for the first day of the Detroit Lions’ three-day mandatory minicamp.
The Pro Bowl safety has missed the offseason workouts since they started in April, choosing to be home in Houston with his family including his wife Gladys and his three sons.
It’s all a bit of a mystery. Quin talked after Tuesday’s practice but spoke more in generalities.
When asked if he was considering retirement, he paused for several seconds before saying, “No.”
“I think every player once you get to a certain age and look in the mirror and ask yourself can you continue to play at that high of a level? But thinking about retiring was not on my mind, it was just trying to figure out how much I had left,’’ the 32-year-old Quin said.
Since he returned that mean he thinks he’s good to go.
He did say clearly one reason he had stayed away was the chance to spend more time with his family.
The pay is great in the NFL but work-life balance can be tough to achieve.
“Only thing I was contemplating was how do I spend more time with my family. That was really it. How do I spend more time with them? It’s a difficult situation, it was the main thing.,’’ Quin said. “Disconnect and give them everything I’ve got, let’s try to figure out how I can spend more time with them.’’
Five things to know about Quin:
1. Quin, who has played in 132 consecutive games, signed an extension in 2017 that ties him up with the Lions through the 2019 season. He’ll make $3.85 million this season, giving up a $250,000 workout bonus. This will be his sixth season in Detroit. He started his career with the Texans as a fourth-round pick out of New Mexico in 2009. He signed with the Lions as a free agent in 2013.
2. Even though he’s missed time while coach Matt Patricia and defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni are installing a new defense, no one seems too worried about Quin’s ability to learn the system. “Everybody’s trying to do the best they can to try and understand what’s going on. And certainly Glover, you know, he’ll come in and work extremely hard. Obviously, a guy that’s a great professional and a guy that’s been in contact with us the whole time,’’ Patricia said before Tuesday’s practice.
3. Quin said playing defense is playing defense. “I’ve been around long enough, I’ve learned new defenses four times in my career. I’ve had four head coaches. So I understand what it’s like, I understand the business, I understand changing in cultures,, I wasn’t really stressing myself about what it was like, what was going on,’’ said Quin who noted he didn’t really bother his teammates who were present for the offseason workouts. He said he didn’t want to be a distraction.
4. While he is in town, it’s all football. “I’m trying to soak up as much of the play book as I can. Football is football to me, I think every day, because one of the things I think He blessed me with, was a great football mind. Being able to learn and understand defenses has been fairly easy for me so I came in (Monday), got a lot thrown at me and same with practice today,’’ Quin said on Tuesday.
5. Quin said it was good to get back into the swing of things and see his teammates again. “It’s cool, being away you go through a phase where you miss the game a little bit,’’ Quin said. “That was the first time in my career that I’ve had to experience that. I’ve always been a part of offseason programs, I’ve never missed games. … It was more for me to take a step back and kind of separate myself and give myself fully to my wife and kids and enjoy that time, but understand I still had a job to do so I had to make time for that as well. So that was good.’’ He would not say if he’ll return next week for scheduled OTAs.
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